"THAT'S A TERRIFIC SPEECH. HE'S DAMN GOOD!"

DR. KING DELIVERS RINGING SPEECH AT WASHINGTON MARCH

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On August 28, 1963, the most famous speech of the Civil Rights Movement was delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Dr. King's speech was the highlight of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom attended by a quarter of a million people and watched by millions more on television.While there were many speakers at the event, it was Dr. King's speech that would resonate throughout the land.

Dr. King said...

"I still have a dream.  It is a dream that is 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'". 

After the event, civil rights leaders, including Dr. King, Roy Wilkins,  Whitney Young, Jr., John Lewis  and A. Philip Randolph, met with President John F. Kennedy at the White House.  John Lewis said that the President greeted each of them at the door of the Oval Office and congratulated them with the words, "You did a great job."

The March on Washington was the brainchild of A. Philip Randolph who had attempted to lead a march in 1941 which never materialized but resulted in FDR's executive order prohibiting discrimination in munition plants.

Mr. Randolph, who became the Director of the March on Washington, had been counseling Dr. King to hold a march in the Nation's Capital in 1963.
JFK's speech on civil rights in June, along with his submission of a civil rights bill, gave a strong boost to Randolph's idea.

JFK had been concerned that the March on Washington would turn violent and hurt chances for the passage of his civil rights legislation.  When the day ended with no violence, the President was relieved and pleased.  He said privately earlier in the day that he wished he could be "out there" with the marchers.

Thurston Clarke says that after JFK watched Dr. King's speech, he said...

"That's a terrific speech.   He's damn good."

MLK, Jr. Memorial

Washington, D.C.

Photo by John White (2011)

MLK, Jr. Memorial

Washington, D.C.

Photo by John White (2011)

LARGEST CIVIL RIGHTS DEMONSTRATION IN US HISTORY

JFK+50:  Volume 6, No. 2052

MARCH ON WASHINGTON PLUS 53

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) It was the largest demonstration for civil rights in the history of the United States of America.  It was officially known as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.  It is commonly remembered simply as the March on Washington.  It happened fifty-three years ago today, August 28, 1963.

The march, attended by a quarter of a million people, was the brainchild of A. Philip Randolph who had attempted to lead a march in 1941 which never materialized but resulted in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's executive order prohibiting discrimination in munition plants.

Mr. Randolph, who became the director of the March on Washington, had been counseling Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to hold a march on the Nation's Capital in 1963.  President John F. Kennedy's speech on civil rights in June along with his submission of a civil rights bill, gave a strong boost to Randolph's idea.

The marchers carried signs in blue or red ink which read...

"We March for Higher Minimum Wages Coverage For All Workers Now"
"We March for Jobs For All Now"
"We Demand Equal Rights"
"Civil Rights Plus Full Employment Equals Freedom"

Speeches were made by notable civil rights activists including Josephine Baker and John Lewis.  There were musical performances by Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mahalia Jackson and Peter, Paul and Mary. Entertainers Harry Belafonte, Marlon Brando and Charlton Heston also attended.

The climax of the march came with the ringing words of Dr. King who said...

"I still have a dream.  It is a dream that is 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 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.

When we allow freedom (to) ring....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're free at last.'"

President Kennedy had been concerned that the march would turn violent and hurt chances for the passage of his civil rights legislation.  When the day ended with no violence, the President was relieved and pleased.

After the march, Dr. King, Roy Wilkins,  Whitney Young, Jr., John Lewis  and A. Philip Randolph, met with President Kennedy at the White House.   Mr. Lewis said that the President greeted each of them at the door of the Oval Office and congratulated them with the words, "You did a great job."

BlackPast.org says the March on Washington is "partly credited with winning the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964."

SOURCES

"March on Washington," www.history.com/

"March on Washington For Jobs and Freedom (August 28, 1963)," www.blackpast.org/

"We Shall Overcome: The History of the Civil Rights Movement As It Happened," by Herb Boyd, Sourcebooks, Inc. Naperville, Illinois, 2004.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Washington, D.C.

August 28, 1963

MAHALIA JACKSON AND AMELIA BOYNTON ROBINSON

"MARTIN, TELL THEM ABOUT THE DREAM!"

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-two years ago today, August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. asked the Queen of Gospel Music to sing "I've Been Buked and I've Been Scorned" before he spoke at the March on Washington, but before she sang, Mahalia Jackson said to Dr. King...

 "Martin, tell them about the dream".

Dr. King had included the "I have a dream" theme in previous speeches and sermons but it was not included in the text of his March on Washington address. He followed Mahalia's advice and added "I have a dream"  to his closing his remarks.

Mahalia Jackson

Queen of Gospel Music

Photo by Carl Van Vechten (1962)

AMELIA BOYNTON ROBINSON DIES AT 104

Montgomery, Alabama (JFK+50) The New York Times reports that last Wednesday, August 26, 2015, "a pivotal figure at the Selma march," Amelia Boynton Robinson* passed away here in Montgomery at age 104.

Ms. Robinson became known as "the matriarch of the voting rights movement." On March 7, 1965, she was "beaten, gassed and left for dead" in the Selma, Alabama march for voting rights.  She had been one of the organizers of the march which was to go from Selma to Montgomery in demand for "the right to register to vote."

Responding to the news of her death, President Barack Obama said...

"She was as strong, as hopeful and as indomitable of spirit--as quintessentially American--as I'm sure she was that day 50 years ago.  To honor the legacy of an American hero like Amelia....requires only that we follow her example--that all of us fight to protect everyone's right to vote."

The Times quotes Ms. Robinson's reflection on her role in Bloody Sunday...

"I wasn't looking for notoriety, but if that's what it took I didn't care how many licks I got.  It just made me even more determined to fight for our cause."

*Amelia Boynton Robinson (1911-2015) was born in Savannah, Georgia, one of 10 children of George and Anna Platts.  ABR earned a degree in Home Economics at Tuskegee Institute and worked with the Department of Agriculture in Selma.  ABR worked in voter registration, and retired in 2009.

SOURCE

"Amelia Boynton Robinson, 104, Dies; A Pivotal Figure at the Selma March," by Margalit Fox, The New York Times, Obituaries, August 27, 2015.

Selma to Montgomery Marches' Road Sign

Photo by Markuskun (2008)

                       

I HAVE A DREAM

MLK'S "I HAVE A DREAM SPEECH" WAS 51 YEARS AGO TODAY

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) The most famous speech of the Civil Rights Movement was delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. fifty-one years ago this afternoon, August 28, 1963.

Dr. King's speech was the highlight of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom attended by a quarter of a million people and watched by millions more on television.

MLK, Jr. Memorial

Washington, D.C.

Photo by John White (2011)

While there were many speakers at the event, it was Dr. King's speech that would resonate throughout the land.

Dr. King said...

"I still have a dream.  It is a dream that is 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 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.

When we allow freedom (to) ring....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're free at last.'"

MLK, Jr. Memorial

Washington, D.C.

Photo by John White (2011)

After the event, civil rights leaders, including Dr. King, Roy Wilkins,  Whitney Young, Jr., John Lewis  and A. Philip Randolph, met with President John F. Kennedy at the White House.

John Lewis said that the President greeted each of them at the door of the Oval Office and congratulated them with the words, "You did a great job."

The March on Washington was the brainchild of A. Philip Randolph who had attempted to lead a march in 1941 which never materialized but resulted in FDR's executive order prohibiting discrimination in munition plants.

Mr. Randolph, who became the Director of the March on Washington, had been counseling Dr. King to hold a march in the Nation's Capital in 1963.

President Kennedy's speech on civil rights in June along with his submission of a civil rights bill, gave a strong boost to Randolph's idea.

JFK had been concerned that the March on Washington would turn violent and hurt chances for the passage of his civil rights legislation.  When the day ended with no violence, the President was relieved and pleased.

He said privately earlier in the day that he wished he could be "out there" with the marchers.

Thurston Clarke says that after JFK watched Dr. King's speech, he said...

"That's a terrific speech.   He's damn good."

Dr. Martin Luther King

Washington, D.C.

August 28, 1963

At the end of the march, the White House issued this statement...

"We have witnessed today...tens of thousands of Americans...exercising their right to assemble peaceably and direct the widest possible attention to a great national issue.

Efforts to secure equal treatment and equal opportunity for all without regard to race, color, creed or nationality are neither novel nor difficult to understand.

What is different today is the intensified and widespread public awareness of the need to move forward in achieving these objectives."

SOURCE

"We Shall Overcome: The History of the Civil Rights Movement As It Happened," by Herb Boyd, Sourcebooks, Inc. Naperville, Illinois, 2004.

MAHALIA JACKSON SAID:
 "MARTIN, TELL THEM ABOUT THE DREAM!"

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. asked the Queen of Gospel Music to sing "I've Been Buked and I've Been Scorned" before he spoke at the March on Washington.

Before she sang, however, Mahalia Jackson said to Dr. King...

 "Martin, tell them about the dream".

Dr. King had included the "I have a dream" theme in previous speeches and sermons but it was not included in the text of his March on Washington address. 

He followed Mahalia's advice, however, and added "I have a dream"  to his closing his remarks.

Mahalia Jackson

Queen of Gospel Music

Photo by Carl Van Vechten (1962)

                       

MLK BORN IN ATLANTA

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. BORN 85 YEARS AGO 

Atlanta, Georgia  (JFK+50) Eighty-five years ago today, January 15, 1929, the leader of the civil rights movement, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born at 501 Auburn Street here in Atlanta.

                         Jennifer White
                   at MLK's Birthplace
                      Atlanta, Georgia
           Photo by John White (2008)

Martin's father, Michael, changed his name to honor the German protestant religious leader, Martin Luther.  

MLK, Jr.'s mother was Alberta Williams King.

            Young Martin Luther King, Jr.
              Beck Cultural Center Exhibit
                     Knoxville, Tennessee
              Photo by John White (2008)

The younger King graduated from Morehouse College in 1948 with a B.A. in Sociology.  

Martin earned his Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania 3 years later.

King married Coretta Scott on June 18, 1953 and received his PhD from Boston University in 1955, the same year he led the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott.

Dr. King was pastor at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery before becoming co-pastor with his father at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

            Ebenezer Baptist Church
                   Atlanta, Georgia
         Photo by John White (2008)

Martin Luther King, Jr, who became the leader of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, preached a philosophy of non-violent protest.

This philosophy was patterned after that of Mohandas Gandhi.

During the March on Washington for equal rights in August 1963, Dr. King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech which is considered to be his best.

Afterward, King and other civil rights leaders met with President John F. Kennedy at the White House.  JFK greeted them with the words...

"I have a dream."

In 1964, MLK was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and in the following years, while continuing to lead the civil rights movement, became an opponent of the war in Vietnam.

        Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
             Library of Congress Photo

Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968 at the Lorraine Motel, which is now the National Civil Rights Museum.

                           John White
           National Civil Rights Museum
                   Memphis, Tennessee
         Photo by Dr. Chad Smith (2008)

The Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday was established in 1983.  It is celebrated, as it will be next week, on the 3rd Monday of January.

The bill for the holiday was signed by President Ronald Reagan on November 2, 1983 and the holiday was first observed in 1986.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial overlooking the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. was dedicated on October 16, 2011.

The memorial, by Lei Yixin of the People's Republic of China, is composed of 159 granite blocks and was built at a cost of $120 million.

      Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
             1964 Independence Avenue
                       Washington, D.C.
              Photo by John White (2011)

At the dedication ceremonies, President Barack Obama, the first African American President of the United States, said:

"In this place (Dr. King) will stand for all time, a black preacher with no official rank or title who gave voice to our deepest dreams and our most lasting ideals."

             Martin Luther King Memorial
                Photo by John White (2011)

Dick Holler wrote a song, recorded by Dion in 1968, titled "Abraham, Martin and John."

The song pays tribute to four assassinated American leaders who gave their lives in the pursuit of freedom and equality...

Abraham Lincoln
John F. Kennedy
Martin Luther King, Jr., 
Robert F."Bobby" Kennedy.

Following is the verse about MLK, Jr.

Has anybody here 
seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me
where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people
But it seems
the good they die young.
I just looked 'round
and he's gone.

MARCH ON WASHINGTON HELD 50 YEARS AGO TODAY

August 28, 2013

MARCH ON WASHINGTON FOR JOBS AND FREEDOM HELD 50 YEARS  AGO TODAY

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom*, attended by a quarter of a million people, was held here in the Nation's Capital 50 years ago today, Wednesday, August 28, 1963.

*Most people know the event simply as "The March on Washington," and associate it with civil rights, but it was also the desire of organizers to emphasize the wide economic disparity between the races.

In 1963, the unemployment rate for blacks was twice that of whites in the United States and the income of white families was almost twice that of black families.

Bayard Rustin and Cleveland Robinson
      March on Washington organizers
                        August 7, 1963
            Library of Congress Photo

A flyer for the March stated...

"America faces a crisis.  Millions of Negroes are denied freedom.  Millions of citizens, black and white are unemployed.  We demand meaningful Civil Rights Laws, full and fair employment, (a) massive Federal Works Program, decent housing, the right to vote (and) adequate integrated education."

The highlight of the day came when the leader of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. addressed the audience at the Lincoln Memorial.

Dr. King, who had only finished writing the speech that morning,  said:

"I still have a dream.  It is a dream that is 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 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."

Dr. King concluded his remarks with these resonating words...

"When we allow freedom (to) ring....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're free at last.'"

After the event, civil rights leaders, including Dr. King of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC),  Roy Wilkins, of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),  Whitney Young, Jr. of the National Urban League, John Lewis of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)  and A. Philip Randolph, founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, met with President John F. Kennedy at the White House.

John Lewis said that the President greeted each of them at the door of the Oval Office and congratulated them with the words, "You did a great job."

The March on Washington was the brainchild of A. Philip Randolph who had attempted to lead a march in 1941 which never materialized but resulted in FDR's executive order prohibiting discrimination in munition plants.

Mr. Randolph, who became the Director of the March on Washington, had been counseling Dr. King to hold a march in the Nation's Capital in 1963.

President Kennedy's speech on civil rights in June along with his submission of a civil rights bill, gave a strong boost to Randolph's idea.*

*JFK had been concerned that the March on Washington would turn violent and hurt chances for the passage of his civil rights legislation.  When the day ended with no violence, the President was relieved and pleased.

He reportedly told a black doorman at the White House earlier in the day that he wished he could be "out there" with the marchers.

Thurston Clarke says that after JFK watched Dr. King's speech, he said: "That's a terrific speech.   He's damn good."

                   Dr. Martin Luther King
                         Speaking at the
                       Lincoln Memorial
                        Washington, D.C.
                         August 28, 1963

It was A. Philip Randolph's decision to appoint Bayard Rustin as his deputy.  It would be Rustin's task to make "all the pieces fit smoothly together."

Those pieces included publicity to get marchers to come to Washington, transportation, order, sanitation, bus parking, scheduling and district regulations.

Among the 250,000 marchers in Washington 50 years ago were celebrities Jackie Robinson, James Baldwin, Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Harry Belafonte, Sammy Davis, Jr., Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, Diahann Carroll, Burt Lancaster and Charlton Heston.

And there were singers:  Marian Anderson, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mahalia Jackson, Odetta and Peter, Paul and Mary.

When the March on Washington ended, the White House issued this statement:

"We have witnessed today...tens of thousands of Americans...exercising their right to assemble peaceably and direct the widest possible attention to a great national issue.

Efforts to secure equal treatment and equal opportunity for all without regard to race, color, creed or nationality are neither novel nor difficult to understand.

What is different today is the intensified and widespread public awareness of the need to move forward in achieving these objectives."

SOURCE

"We Shall Overcome: The History of the Civil Rights Movement As It Happened," by Herb Boyd, Sourcebooks, Inc. Naperville, Illinois, 2004.

MAHALIA JACKSON'S WORDS TO MLK: "TELL THEM ABOUT THE DREAM!"

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. asked the Queen of Gospel Music to sing "I've Been Buked and I've Been Scorned" before he spoke at the March on Washington at the Lincoln Memorial.

Before she sang, however, Mahalia Jackson said to Dr. King: "Martin, tell them about the dream".

Dr. King had included the "I have a dream" theme in previous speeches and sermons but it was not included in the text of his March on Washington address. 

He followed Mahalia's advice, however, adding "I have a dream"  to his closing his remarks.

                   Mahalia Jackson
             Queen of Gospel Music
Photo by Carl Van Vechten (1962)

                       Lincoln Memorial
              Photo by John White (2011)


OBAMA TO SPEAK AT LET FREEDOM RING CEREMONY COMMEMORATING THE MARCH

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) President Barack Obama will speak today at the "LET FREEDOM RING" ceremony on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in commemoration of the March on Washington For Jobs and Freedom held 50 years ago today, August 28, 1963.

    Spot Where MLK Gave "The Speech"
                    Lincoln Memorial
           Photo by John White (2011)

The ceremony is scheduled for 3 p.m. (EDT), the same time when MLK gave his "I Have a Dream" speech.

SOURCE

www.iipdigital.usembassy.gov/