Martin Luther King, Jr. | National Archives Hire a Researcher Martin Luther King, Jr. On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr., delivered a speech to a massive group of civil rights marchers gathered around the Lincoln memorial in Washington DC. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom brought together the nations most prominent civil rights leaders, along with tens of thousands of marchers, to press the United States government for equality. The culmination of this event was the influential and most memorable speech of Dr. King's career. Popularly known as the "I have a Dream" speech, the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. influenced the Federal government to take more direct actions to more fully realize racial equality. Mister Maestro, Inc., and Twentieth Century Fox Records Company recorded the speech and offered the recording for sale. Dr. King and his attorneys claimed that the speech was copyrighted and the recording violated that copyright. The court found in favor of Dr. King. Among the papers filed in the case and available at the National Archives at New York City is a deposition given by Martin Luther King, Jr. and signed in his own hand.

Educational Activities Discussion Questions: What was the official name for the event on August 28th, 1963? What does this title tell us about its focus? What organizations were involved in the the March on Washington? What does this tell us about the event? How does Martin Luther King, Jr. describe his writing process? What are the major issues of this case? In other words, what is Martin Luther King, Jr. disputing? How does Martin Luther King, Jr. describe his earlier speech on June 23rd in Detroit? How does Martin Luther King, Jr. compare and contrast the two "I have a dream..." speeches? What are the major similarities and differences? Civil Rights March on Washington (History, Facts, Martin Luther King Jr.) Civil Rights March on Washington All about the March on Washington, August 28, 1963 by Shmuel Ross Civil Rights Timeline The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. Attended by some 250,000 people, it was the largest demonstration ever seen in the nation's capital, and one of the first to have extensive television coverage.

Background 1963 was noted for racial unrest and civil rights demonstrations. Nationwide outrage was sparked by media coverage of police actions in Birmingham, Alabama, where attack dogs and fire hoses were turned against protestors, many of whom were in their early teens or younger. Martin Luther King, Jr., was arrested and jailed during these protests, writing his famous "Letter From Birmingham City Jail," which advocates civil disobedience against unjust laws. Dozens of additional demonstrations took place across the country, from California to New York, culminating in the March on Washington. President Kennedy backed a Civil Rights Act, which was stalled in Congress by the summer. Coalition The March on Washington represented a coalition of several civil rights organizations, all of which generally had different approaches and different agendas. The "Big Six" organizers were James Farmer, of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE); Martin Luther King, Jr. , of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC); John Lewis, of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); A. Philip Randolph , of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; Roy Wilkins, of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); and Whitney Young, Jr., of the National Urban League .

The stated demands of the march were the passage of meaningful civil rights legislation; the elimination of racial segregation in public schools; protection for demonstrators against police brutality; a major public-works program to provide jobs; the passage of a law prohibiting racial discrimination in public and private hiring; a $2 an hour minimum wage ; and self-government for the District of Columbia , which had a black majority. Opposition President Kennedy originally discouraged the march, for fear that it might make the legislature vote against civil rights laws in reaction to a perceived threat. Once it became clear that the march would go on, however, he supported it. While various labor unions supported the march, the AFL-CIO remained neutral. Outright opposition came from two sides. White supremacist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan , were obviously not in favor of any event supporting racial equality. On the other hand, the march was also condemned by some civil rights activists who felt it presented an inaccurate, sanitized pageant of racial harmony; Malcolm X called it the "Farce on Washington," and members of the Nation of Islam who attended the march faced a temporary suspension. The March on Washington Nobody was sure how many people would turn up for the demonstration in Washington, D.C.

Some travelling from the South were harrassed and threatened. But on August 28, 1963, an estimated quarter of a million people—about a quarter of whom were white—marched from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, in what turned out to be both a protest and a communal celebration. The heavy police presence turned out to be unnecessary, as the march was noted for its civility and peacefulness. The march was extensively covered by the media, with live international television coverage. The event included musical performances by Marian Anderson ; Joan Baez ; Bob Dylan ; Mahalia Jackson ; Peter, Paul, and Mary; and Josh White. Charlton Heston —representing a contingent of artists, including Harry Belafonte, Marlon Brando, Diahann Carroll, Ossie Davis, Sammy Davis Jr., Lena Horne, Paul Newman, and Sidney Poitier—read a speech by James Baldwin . The speakers included all of the "Big Six" civil-rights leaders (James Farmer, who was imprisoned in Louisiana at the time, had his speech read by Floyd McKissick ); Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish religious leaders; and labor leader Walter Reuther .

The one female speaker was Josephine Baker , who introduced several "Negro Women Fighters for Freedom," including Rosa Parks . Noteworthy Speeches The two most noteworthy speeches came from John Lewis and Martin Luther King, Jr. Lewis represented the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a younger, more radical group than King's. The speech he planned to give, circulated beforehand, was objected to by other participants; it called Kennedy's civil rights bill "too little, too late," asked "which side is the federal government on?" and declared that they would march "through the Heart of Dixie, the way Sherman did" and "burn Jim Crow to the ground—nonviolently." In the end, he agreed to tone down the more inflammatory portions of his speech, but even the revised version was the most controversial of the day, stating: The revolution is at hand, and we must free ourselves of the chains of political and economic slavery. The nonviolent revolution is saying, "We will not wait for the courts to act, for we have been waiting hundreds of years.

We will not wait for the President, nor the Justice Department, nor Congress, but we will take matters into our own hands, and create a great source of power, outside of any national structure that could and would assure us victory." For those who have said, "Be patient and wait!" we must say, "Patience is a dirty and nasty word." We cannot be patient, we do not want to be free gradually, we want our freedom, and we want it now. We cannot depend on any political party, for the Democrats and the Republicans have betrayed the basic principles of the Declaration of Independence. King's speech remains one of the most famous speeches in American history. He started with prepared remarks, saying he was there to "cash a check" for "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," while warning fellow protesters not to "allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.

Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force." But then he departed from his script, shifting into the "I have a dream" theme he'd used on prior occasions, drawing on both " the American dream " and religious themes, speaking of an America where his children "will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." He followed this with an exhortation to "let freedom ring" across the nation, and concluded with: And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last." More from Black History Month Did you know? Martin Luther King | "I Have A Dream" Speech - YouTube Martin Luther King | "I Have A Dream" Speech Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist.

Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Aug 28, 2013 SUBSCRIBE! ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ NOTICE: January 2013: SME (Sony Music Entertainment" has filed what's in our opinion a frivolous and or fraudulent copyright claim on this video: "Walter Cronkite-August 28, 1963", [ 00:06:30 ] sound recording administered by: SME Dispute rejected, claim has been reinstated. to block it from being seen -- so far, in Germany as well as monetized it. Any advertisements and/or blocking in any country is placed on it by SME and against our will and facilitated by Google/YouTube all contrary to copyright law. Please contact Sony Music Entertainment and YouTube/Google and demand this be removed and that they follow the copyright law. Thanks!

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Probably the most famous speech of the 20th century by Martin Luther King on Wednesday, August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. I present to you a heartfelt speech which reminds us the fundamental rights and values of man in full version ! "I Have A Dream" is the popular name given to the public speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., when he spoke of his desire for a future where blacks and whites, among others, would coexist harmoniously as equals. King's delivery of the speech on August 28, 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement.

Delivered to over 250,000 civil rights supporters, the speech is often considered to be one of the greatest and most notable speeches in history and was ranked the top American speech of the 20th century by a 1999 poll of scholars of public address ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ I Have A Dream Speech - Martin Luther King Speeches You Are Here: MLK Online > Speeches > I Have a Dream Speech Share This Page: I Have a Dream Speech by Martin Luther King Jr. I Have a Dream MP3 Martin Luther King's Address at March on Washington August 28, 1963. Washington, D.C.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." – Martin Luther King, I Have a Dream Quote I Have a Dream Speech Background Summary: "I Have a Dream" is a 17-minute�public speech�by�Martin Luther King, Jr.�delivered on August 28, 1963, in which he called for�racial equalityand an end to�discrimination. The speech, from the steps of the�Lincoln Memorial�during the�March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, was a defining moment of the�American Civil Rights Movement. Delivered to over 200,000 civil rights supporters,�the speech was ranked the topAmerican�speech of the 20th century by a 1999 poll of scholars of public address.�According to�U.S. Representative�John Lewis, who also spoke that day as the President of the�Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, "Dr. King had the power, the ability, and the capacity to transform those steps on the Lincoln Memorial into a monumental area that will forever be recognized.

By speaking the way he did, he educated, he inspired, he informed not just the people there, but people throughout America and unborn generations." Speech Title and Performance: Believe it or not, the "I Have a Dream" speech was originally titled "Normalcy, Never Again." and the first drafts never included the phrase "I have a dream". He had first delivered a speech incorporating some of the same sections in Detroit in June 1963, when he marched on Woodward Avenue with Walter Reuther and the Reverend C. L. Franklin, and had rehearsed other parts. The popular title "I have a dream," came from the speech's greatly improvised content and delivery. Near the end of the speech, famous African American gospel singer Mahalia Jackson shouted to Dr. King from the crowd, "Tell them about the dream, Martin." Dr. King stopped delivering his prepared speech and started "preaching", punctuating his points with "I have a dream." Public Domain : Dr. Martin Luther King, jr. at 1963 March on Washington by USIA (NARA) Educational Activities Photo in the Public Domain .

Contemporary Reaction: The speech was lauded in the days after the event, and was widely considered the high point of the March by contemporary observers. James Reston, writing for the�New York Times, noted that the event "was better covered by television and the press than any event here since President Kennedy's inauguration," and opined that "it will be a long time before [Washington] forgets the melodious and melancholy voice of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. crying out his dreams to the multitude."[�An article in the�Boston Globe�by�Mary McGrory�reported that King's speech "caught the mood" and "moved the crowd" of the day "as no other" speaker in the event.�Marquis Childs�of�The Washington Post�wrote that King's speech "rose above mere oratory".�An article in the�Los Angeles Times�commented that the "matchless eloquence" displayed by King, "a supreme orator" of "a type so rare as almost to be forgotten in our age," put to shame the advocates of segregation by inspiring the "conscience of America" with the justice of the civil-rights cause.

I Have a Dream Copyright Information Copyright Dispute: Because King's speech was broadcast to a large radio and television audience, there was controversy about the copyright status of the speech. If the performance of the speech constituted "general publication", it would have entered the public domain due to King's failure to register the speech with the Registrar of Copyrights. If the performance only constituted "limited publication", however, King retained common law copyright. This led to a lawsuit, Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. v. CBS, Inc., which established that the King estate does hold copyright over the speech and had standing to sue; the parties then settled. Unlicensed use of the speech or a part of it can still be lawful in some circumstances, especially in jurisdictions under doctrines such as fair use or fair dealing. Under the applicable copyright laws, the speech will remain under copyright in the United States until 70 years after King's death, thus until 2038. Deposition of Martin Luther King regarding copyright infringement.

Case File Number 63 Civ 2889, Civil Case Files; United States District Court for the Southern District of New York Download the full deposition (PDF) I Have a Dream Speech Video Copyright The I Have a Dream Speech Video is no longer available online, as EMI on behalf of The King Center has ordered it's removal. They will sell you or your school a copy for $10 at at , or you can buy the I Have a Dream DVD on Amazon ($8.97) “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.” – Martin Luther King, I Have a Dream Quote Read in Full: Text and audio of this speech available at: Copyright Info: This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "I Have a Dream" , which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 .

Buy a Copy of the I Have a Dream Speech I Have a Dream Speech DVD Martin Luther King's Speech: 'I Have a Dream' - The Full Text - ABC News Martin Luther King's Speech: 'I Have a Dream' - The Full Text By ABC NEWS Michael Ochs Archives/Alex Wong/Getty Images WATCH MLK 'Tremendously Moved' at March on Washington 0 Shares Email The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech is among the most acclaimed in U.S. history, and the 50th anniversary this week of the March on Washington where he delivered it highlights the speech's staying power. His soaring close "to let freedom ring" still resonates today and inspires those who are moved by his dream. He began with: "I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. "Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice.

It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. "But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition." Read the speech in its entirety HERE at the U.S. National Archives.

0 Shares Martin Luther King, Jr., the “I Have a Dream” Speech & the March on Washington - Washington, DC Embassy Events & Museum Meetups (Washington, DC) | Meetup Martin Luther King, Jr., the “I Have a Dream” Speech & the March on Washington Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery - G Street NW Entrance “I still have a dream, a dream deeply rooted in the American dream – one day this nation will rise up and live up to its creed, "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream...” Martin Luther King, Jr. August 28, 1963 Program Overview Have you ever listened to the entire seventeen minute “I Have a Dream” speech? Have you ever listened to the entire speech where it was actually delivered by Dr. King, at the Lincoln Memorial? With this being the 53rd anniversary of the speech (1963), has the Dream been achieved? For the second consecutive year "Washington, DC History & Culture" will present a guided walking tour complete with a listening of the entire “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial.

Before arriving at the Lincoln Memorial our tour will pass several noteworthy Washington, DC sites associated with Martin Luther King, Jr. including: the MLK Library, Freedom Plaza, the Willard Hotel, the White House, and of course, the MLK Memorial. Along the way we’ll contemplate the legacy of Martin Luther King and his Dream. Our walking tour will cover approximately three miles over two and a half hours, or slightly longer depending on questions and comments. Optional socializing / dinner discussion afterwards at a TBD location in Foggy Bottom - additional expense. Considerations Who was Martin Luther King, Jr.? What was the 1963 March on Washington, and what was it supposed to accomplish? What was Martin Luther King, Jr’s role in the March, and why wasn’t he one of the March co-organizers? Where was President Kennedy and his cabinet during Dr. King’s speech? Today “I Have a Dream” is considered one of the greatest speeches in history. Was that always the case? If not, why? Has the Dream been achieved? Walking Tour Points of Interest - National Portrait Gallery - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Memorial - Lincoln Memorial Event Information - Please Read Carefully Registration: The cost for this program is $10 per person with proceeds supporting our “Washington, DC History & Culture” programs. As our tour can only accommodate a limited number of people, the registration fee also helps reduce the number of “no shows.” The registration amount is fully refundable if the event is cancelled or rescheduled to another date, if you cancel your RSVP at least 5 days prior to the event date, or if you attend the tour and are not completely satisfied with your experience. Weather: The event will take place light rain or shine. If it’s on the calendar, then we’re proceeding as planned. Metro Station: The two closest Metro stations to the National Portrait Gallery are: Gallery Place/Chinatown or Metro Center. Parking: There is limited paid parking throughout the area – however, please note metered time limits and restrictions. Meeting Point: Meet outside of the National Portrait Gallery entrance at G St. NW and 8th St. NW. Timeliness: Please be on-time or even early. We’ll begin with our traditional group “icebreaker” introductions and then proceed on our walk.

If you arrive late you can catch up by following the itinerary (e.g. first stop will be the MLK Library). Ending Point: Lincoln Memorial – or Foggy Bottom if you want to walk back to the Metro with us and/or join us for dinner. Post-Event: Optional/potential dinner discussion afterwards at a TBD location in Foggy Bottom - additional expense for your meal. Miscellaneous: We’ll be walking three miles outdoors. With the summer weather being hot and humid bringing water or other fluids to drink is highly recommended. Additional Questions: Anything that can’t be answered by the above event description, Google, or common sense please let me know. This event is co-hosted by our flagship Washington, DC History & Culture Meetup group. Meet People * See Places * Learn Things * Have Fun!

Washington, DC History & Culture King speaks to March on Washington - Aug 28, 1963 - HISTORY.com King speaks to March on Washington Share this: King speaks to March on Washington Author King speaks to March on Washington URL Publisher A+E Networks On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the African American civil rights movement reaches its high-water mark when Martin Luther King, Jr., speaks to about 250,000 people attending the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The demonstrators–black and white, poor and rich–came together in the nation’s capital to demand voting rights and equal opportunity for African Americans and to appeal for an end to racial segregation and discrimination. The peaceful rally was the largest assembly for a redress of grievances that the capital had ever seen, and King was the last speaker. With the statue of Abraham Lincoln–the Great Emancipator–towering behind him, King used the rhetorical talents he had developed as a Baptist preacher to show how, as he put it, the “Negro is still not free.” He told of the struggle ahead, stressing the importance of continued action and nonviolent protest.

Coming to the end of his prepared text (which, like other speakers that day, he had limited to seven minutes), he was overwhelmed by the moment and launched into an improvised sermon. He told the hushed crowd, “Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettoes of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.” Continuing, he began the refrain that made the speech one of the best known in U.S. history, second only to Lincoln’s 1863 “Gettysburg Address”: “I have a dream,” he boomed over the crowd stretching from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument, “that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’ I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.” King had used the “I have a dream” theme before, in a handful of stump speeches, but never with the force and effectiveness of that hot August day in Washington. He equated the civil rights movement with the highest and noblest ideals of the American tradition, allowing many to see for the first time the importance and urgency of racial equality.

He ended his stirring, 16-minute speech with his vision of the fruit of racial harmony: “When we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'” In the year after the March on Washington, the civil rights movement achieved two of its greatest successes: the ratification of the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished the poll tax and thus a barrier to poor African American voters in the South; and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited racial discrimination in employment and education and outlawed racial segregation in public facilities. In October 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr., was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. On April 4, 1968, he was shot to death while standing on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee–he was 39 years old.

The gunman was escaped convict James Earl Ray. Related Videos Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial---Places Reflecting America's Diverse Cultures Explore their Stories in the National Park System: A Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary The Stone of Hope showing Martin Luther King, Jr. Courtesy of the National Park Service With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. —Martin Luther King, Jr. I Have a Dream speech, Lincoln Memorial, August 28, 1963 Between memorials to Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson stands a new memorial to a man who was never president, but just as profoundly shaped the course of this nation’s history as any elected official. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial commemorates the life of a man who fought for justice in the face of injustice and equality in the face of inequality.

His fight, and his faith, expressed through nonviolent resistance, sought to overcome the shadow of slavery and institutionalized racism that still pervaded the United States during the mid-1900s. The Memorial Today, visitors to the National Mall will find the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial located at the northwest edge of the Tidal Basin, at the intersection of West Basin Drive and Independence Avenue in Washington, DC. The several facets of the memorial each illustrate part of Dr. King’s legacy and life. Entering the memorial from the main entrance at West Basin Drive and Independence Avenue, visitors pass through a plaza that separates the memorial from the hum of the city. Here, a sculpture titled the Mountain of Despair is visible. Visitors can also see this feature clearly from the street. A broken, boulder-like mass that rises out of the ground, the sculpture represents the struggle for equality.

The title takes its name from a line in King’s I Have a Dream speech delivered a few steps away at the Lincoln Memorial—"With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope." While facing the Mountain of Despair, the Stone of Hope, whose title also comes from the same speech, is visible pulled forward from the mountain. A 28-foot tall likeness of Martin Luther King, Jr. is carved into the Stone of Hope. Nearby, water features represent the sacrifices of many during the Civil Rights Movement. An Inscription Wall embraces the Mountain of Despair and Stone of Hope featuring quotations from Dr. King. The Mountain of Despair Courtesy of the National Park Service Martin Luther King, Jr. Born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1929, Martin Luther King, Jr. grew up in a neighborhood that was the center of Atlanta’s African-American community. Eventually, he ministered at the church of his father and grandfather, Ebenezer Baptist Church. The church served as a gathering point for civil rights organizations in the 1960s, including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Many sites associated with King’s life in Atlanta are included as part of this travel itinerary.

Beyond Atlanta, Dr. King became a leader of the nationwide Civil Rights Movement. Following his graduation from Boston University in 1955, he accepted the call to serve as a pastor at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. From this position, he helped lead the bus boycott that had started in response to Rosa Parks's act of civil disobedience on a local Montgomery, Alabama bus. A towering leader on the civil rights stage, Dr. King led the August 28, 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where he delivered his famous I Have a Dream speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to a crowd of approximately 200,000 marchers. The Lincoln Memorial is another site in this travel itinerary. Following the march in Washington, King traveled throughout the United States and the world to rally support for the civil rights movement. His efforts were instrumental in securing the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1963 and the Voting Rights Act of 1964. For his accomplishments, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.

In 1965, King participated in the Selma to Montgomery (Alabama) marches for voting rights, commemorated today as the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail , which is also featured in this travel itinerary. Between 1964 and his assassination in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968, Dr. King continued to join his voice with others to protest and speak out against inequality. Martin Luther King, Jr. is honored by this memorial on the National Mall. Flanked by statues and monuments to great political leaders and military campaigns, the monument to King and his nonviolent citizen leadership is a powerful reminder of the ability of individuals to effect change. Plan your visit The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, a unit of the National Park System, is located at the intersection of West Basin Dr. and Independence Ave. in Washington, DC. The memorial is open 24 hours a day. The memorial bookstore is open 7 days a week from 9:00am to 8:00pm. For more information, including information on the dedication, visit the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial website or call 202-426-6841.

The March on Washington, August 28, 1963 March on Washington, D.C. for Jobs and Freedom August 28, 1963 By John E. Hansan, Ph.D., An Organizer for Cincinnati’s Delegation Rev. Martin Luther King A major event in the centuries-long struggle to help Black Americans achieve equal rights was the 1963 “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.” On August 28, 1963, more than 250,000 people from across the nation came together in Washington, D.C. to peacefully demonstrate their support for the passage of a meaningful civil rights bill, an end to racial segregation in schools and the creation of jobs for the unemployed. It was the largest demonstration ever held in the nation’s capital, and one of the first to have extensive television coverage. The march is remembered too as the occasion for Reverend Martin Luther King ’s “ I Have A Dream ” speech. It was a speech of hope and determination, and it epitomized the message the marchers proclaimed of racial harmony and a belief that Black and White Americans could live together in peace.

The march also gave widespread publicity and political impetus to the then pending civil rights legislation a version of which was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 2, 1964. Background March on Washington Flyer from Cincinnati During the early 1960s, numerous civil rights demonstrations and protests were held, particularly in the south. The widespread use of non-violent peaceful civil rights demonstrations in the south in the 1960s can be said to have started on February 1, 1960 when, after shopping for school supplies in a Woolworth department store in Greensboro, N.C., four black freshmen from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College asked to be served at the store’s segregated lunch counter. The basic plan of the sit-ins was that a group of students would go to a lunch counter and ask to be served. If they were, they would move on to the next lunch counter. If they were not served they would not move until they had been. If they were arrested, a new group would take their place. The students always remained nonviolent and respectful.

Some students in northern cities eventually joined the protests and by August 1961, the movement had attracted over 70,000 participants and resulted in more than 3,000 arrests. Building on the success of the “sit-ins,” another type of protest was planned using “Freedom Riders.” The Freedom Riders were a volunteer group of men and women, Black and White, young and old (many from university and college campuses) across the country who boarded buses, trains and planes bound for the deep south to challenge outdated laws and practices and the region’s non-compliance with a U.S. Supreme Court decision that prohibited segregation in all interstate public transportation facilities. The most notable Freedom Ride was one that left Washington DC on May 4, 1961 and was scheduled to arrive in New Orleans, LA on May 17. These Freedom Riders never made it to New Orleans: many spent their summer in jail. But their efforts were not in vain. The Kennedy administration was forced to take a stand on civil rights, which was the intent of the Freedom Rides in the first place. Also, the Interstate Commerce Commission, at the request of Attorney General Robert Kennedy, outlawed segregation in interstate bus travel.

These and other civil rights demonstrations moved President John F. Kennedy to send to Congress a civil rights bill on June 19, 1963. The proposed legislation offered federal protection to African Americans seeking to vote, to shop, to eat out, and to be educated on equal terms. To capitalize on the growing public support for the civil rights movement and to put pressure Congress to adopt civil rights legislation, the major civil rights groups was formed a coalition to plan and organize a large national demonstration in the nation’s capital. The hope was to enlist a hundred thousand people to come to Washington, D.C. The Organizers Initially, the March on Washington was supported by leaders of the “Big Six” civil rights organizations: James Farmer, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE); Reverend Martin Luther King , Jr., .Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC); John Lewis, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); A. Philip Randolph, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; Roy Wilkins, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); and Whitney Young , National Urban League .

The march was planned to take place on August 28, 1963 and Bayard Rustin was named chief coordinator of the March. A short time later, the sponsoring committee was expanded to included religious and labor interests: Matthew Ahman, National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice; Reverend Eugene Carson Blake, Commission on Race Relations of the National Council of Churches; Rabbi Joachim Prinz, American Jewish Committee; and Walter Reuther, UAW & AFL-CIO. The march organizers published a list of their demands: the passage of meaningful civil rights legislation; the elimination of racial segregation in public schools; a major public-works program to provide jobs for unemployed workers, “Negro” and White; the passage of a law prohibiting racial discrimination in public and private hiring; a $2 an hour minimum wage; and a new Executive Order banning discrimination in all housing supported by federal funds. Details about the purpose, sponsors and plans for the organization and conduct of the march were included in a document called “Organizing Manual No.

2” Final Organization Plans (Click on Thumbnail to See Entire Handout) An Appeal by March Leaders An “Appeal by the March Leaders?” distributed in advance of the event stated, “…It [the march] was conceived as an outpouring of deep feeling of millions of white and colored American citizens that the time has come for the Government of the United States of America and particularly the Congress of that Government, to grant and guarantee complete equality in citizenship to the Negro minority of our population…It [the march] will be orderly, but not subservient. It will be proud, but not arrogant. It will be nonviolent, but not timid. It will be unified in purposes and behavior, not splintered into groups and individual competitors….” The Cincinnati Committee for the Washington March? Those who discounted the appeal of the march were astounded to discover that it received broad support from many sectors of American life. Local religious, labor and civic organizations joined the major civil rights groups in planning, publicizing the march and recruiting participants.

For example, in Cincinnati, OH (an area sometimes referred to as “up south” because of its conservative politics and treatment of Blacks) a Committee For The Washington March was formed and included leaders from the local affiliates of the AFL-CIO, Catholic Interracial Council, CORE, Council of Churches, Jewish Community Relations Committee, NAACP and Flyers promoting the march were widely distributed and supporters were encouraged to contact their friends, neighbors and colleagues in churches, lodges, union halls and other organizations to which they belonged. Active promotion of the march resulted in approximately 500 Cincinnati area residents paying their own fare for a two-night round trip to Washington, DC on a chartered train. Leaving Cincinnati’s Union Station at 5:00 p.m. on August 27, the Cincinnati areea contingent arrived in Washington, D.C. at 8:15 a.m. on August 28. Because of long lines on the train, a number of Cincinnatians chose to freshen up in the public rest rooms at Union Station. The rest room experience proved to be a very good omen for one of the marchers.

Cincinnati Committee Handout Jack Hansan’s Train Ticket Stub Post Card from Jack Hansan to his family in Cincinnati After leaving Washington’s Union Station, the Cincinnati area marchers joined up with other delegations and walked to the Washington Monument grounds where the marchers were instructed to assemble. Participants carried a variety of signs and joined in singing civil rights songs and hymns. At the Washington Monument, a stage had been set up and famous singers and Hollywood stars entertained the crowd waiting to march to the Lincoln Memorial and the start of the formal program. Among the entertainers and stars that morning were: Joan Baez, Peter, Paul and Mary, Odetta, Josh White, Ossie Davis, Marlon Brando, Sammy Davis, Jr., Sidney Poitier, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll, Paul Newman, and Harry Belafonte. The Lincoln Memorial Program Click Image for Full Program The formal program started from a platform in front of the Lincoln Memorial at 2:00 p.m. Ms. Marian Anderson was delayed and not able to open the program singing The National Anthem. After the invocation, March Director, A. Philip Randolph, addressed the crowd. After remarks by Dr.

Eugene Carson Blake, Bayard Rustin, in the absence of Mrs. Myrlie Evers, paid tribute to “Negro Women Fighters for Freedom.” He introduced several Black civil rights leaders and activists, including Rosa Parks, Daisy Bates, Diane Nash, Gloria Richardson, and Mrs. Herbert Lee (widow of the slain Mississippi activist), as well as citing Myrlie Evers, widow of Medgar Evers, the assassinated civil rights leader. Dr. King was the last speaker and delivered an eloquent articulation of the American dream and his hope that it would be fully realized. Entitled “I Have a Dream,” the speech outlined his hopes for a time when his “four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” On Line Resources The I Have a Dream Speech - The U.S. Constitution Online - USConstitution.net The I Have a Dream Speech Advertisement In 1950's America, the equality of man envisioned by the Declaration of Independence was far from a reality. People of color — blacks, Hispanics, Asians — were discriminated against in many ways, both overt and covert.

The 1950's were a turbulent time in America, when racial barriers began to come down due to Supreme Court decisions, like Brown v. Board of Education; and due to an increase in the activism of blacks, fighting for equal rights. Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist minister, was a driving force in the push for racial equality in the 1950's and the 1960's. In 1963, King and his staff focused on Birmingham, Alabama. They marched and protested non-violently, raising the ire of local officials who sicced water cannon and police dogs on the marchers, whose ranks included teenagers and children. The bad publicity and break-down of business forced the white leaders of Birmingham to concede to some anti-segregation demands. Thrust into the national spotlight in Birmingham, where he was arrested and jailed, King helped organize a massive march on Washington, DC, on August 28, 1963. His partners in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom included other religious leaders, labor leaders, and black organizers.

The assembled masses marched down the Washington Mall from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, heard songs from Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, and heard speeches by actor Charlton Heston, NAACP president Roy Wilkins, and future U.S. Representative from Georgia John Lewis. King's appearance was the last of the event; the closing speech was carried live on major television networks. On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, King evoked the name of Lincoln in his "I Have a Dream" speech, which is credited with mobilizing supporters of desegregation and prompted the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The next year, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The following is the exact text of the spoken speech, transcribed from recordings. I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned.

Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.

Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.

They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations.

Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.

With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring." And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Question: What was the name of the speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr in Washington DC in August 1963?
Answer: I Have a Dream