The official 60th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was on August 28. Since the anniversary fell on a Monday this year, a coalition of marchers headed down in buses over the weekend to celebrate an enduring part of Black history.
In 1963, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King led the historic march, delivering the iconic and impromptu ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. The demonstration was organized by legendary Bayard Rustin, A. Phillip Randolph, and their fellow civil rights and labor figures known then as “The Big Six.” It was held at a pivotal time for the Civil Rights Movement, as it came two months after the murder of Medgar Evers and just weeks before the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing that killed four Black girls in Birmingham, Alabama. The march also became a catalyst for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
A record 250,000 activists packed the National Mall in front of the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington back in 1963.
On the Saturday preceding the 60th anniversary, hundreds in Harlem rose before dawn to catch one of the 15 free buses stationed outside of National Action Network (NAN) headquarters on 145th Street. Elderly men and women, families, youth activists, and local civic leaders all piled in to check-in lines looking for their seat information in the wee hours of the morning. There was an air of comradery, which was likely only tempered by genuine tiredness.
As the day pressed on, marchers were more lively and excited at the chance to be a part of the March on Washington legacy– some for the first time and others as part of their own tradition.
“I am approaching 80 years old, so I very much remember 1963,” said Harlem native Melba D. “I watched it [on TV]. I can’t even begin to tell you. That was the first time I had seen so many people gather for a cause, especially Black people for a cause. It’s a hard feeling to explain.”
Ariama C. Long photos
An avid marcher throughout her time in school, D had just matriculated from graduate school at the time of King’s march and wasn’t able to attend. She joked that she needed to work and was worried about paying back student loans at the time. Tearfully, she recounted watching the event on television. To a degree, she said she felt helpless then and is glad that the community has more legal rights today.
Growing up in Harlem, she said that she never thought about it being segregated until she left for college to attend Spelman, a Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in Atlanta. “Everything we had was above 125th Street,” said D. “The only time we were allowed anything beyond that was when people went to work.”
She remembers in her youth how involved she and her classmates were with the movement. She said that her grandparents and parents were much more “quiet” at the time. “I would definitely say they were not against it. They really had other things. Having to go to work to make a living to pay the rent, put food on the table, [and] take care of kids,” she said.
Mikell Green-grand, 60, is a member of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem and an elected officer of the archives. He took the bus ride down to the march for the first time to document the anniversary for his church. He said that his family has always been involved in marching, but now he worries that there aren’t as many iconic Black voices like Malcolm X and Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
“We’re still marching for jobs and freedoms and voting rights and women’s reproductive rights for women’s bodies, housing,” said Green-grand on the bus. “There’s so many things. So it’s a continuation.”
A horde of HBCUs, Black fraternities and sororities, and civic groups of diverse backgrounds and faiths attended the rally and short march on Saturday afternoon. There were large Jewish, Chinese, Asian/Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI), Muslim, Latino, and LGBTQIA+ groups present, standing in solidarity with the continuation of the Civil Rights Movement. It was a tremendously hot and sticky environment, so people took to the shade of the trees that lined the National Mall to keep cool and hydrated. The estimate of attendees was in the low thousands.
“We are the largest coalition fighting from the frontline for equal treatment. Chinese Americans are having a very tough time with anti-Chinese hate. We stand with Sharpton because we recognize that this is the Civil Rights Movement of our generation,” said United Chinese Americans (UCA) President Haipei Shue at the rally.
At the podium, others spoke at length about the current attack and erasure of Black history from public schools, the persistence of gun violence in Black and brown communities, and the need for more unity across all communities. Founder and President of NAN Rev. Al Sharpton, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and King’s surviving family were among Saturday’s incredible speakers.
“We will not let the clock turn back. We will not go back to what we’ve been,” said NAN Chairman Rev. W. Franklyn Richardson. “We’ll go forward.”
Quite a few people said that the original impetus for the march had not yet been realized 60 years later for Black Americans. The Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA) released an analysis looking at racial disparities across housing, education, employment, wages, and voting rights since 1963.
“60 years ago, hundreds of thousands marched on Washington demanding civic and economic equality. Today, millions of Americans remain disenfranchised and denied access to the most basic freedoms taken for granted by others — simply because of their race,” said FPWA CEO and Executive Director Jennifer Jones Austin in a statement. “Deep inequalities persist across nearly all measures of wellbeing.”
Austin said that Black Americans earn 20% less than their white counterparts, even with identical college degrees, creating a racial wealth gap that has long-term detrimental impacts on families. She added that 1 in 3 Black children live in poverty, compared to less than 1 in 10 white children. For incarceration rates, she said that 1 out of 3 Black boys born today can expect to be sentenced to prison in their lifetime, versus 1 out of 17 for their white peers.
Though the statistics are disparaging at times, the youthful energy of the movement is still alive and well.
“I feel energized. I feel excited. I’m here every single year. This is probably like my 16th since I was a kid,” said Queens activist Larry ‘IAMQUEENS’ Malcom Smith Jr, 24. “I have dedicated my life and my whole blood, sweat, and tears to this movement. And it just feels good to take essential rest.”
Smith is from southside Jamaica, Queens. Once a passionate youth advocate himself, Smith is now a mentor to college students at North Carolina A&T State University. “I feel like the youth are always forgotten,” said Smith at the rally. “They have the tools and the resources and I want to be able to make their lives impactful the way they make my life impactful as a teacher.”
The march itself on Saturday was kept short because of the stifling heat and hours-long rally.
On Monday, Sharpton as well as Chairman of the Board of the Drum Major Institute Martin Luther King III. and President of the Drum Major Institute Arndrea Waters King met with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House to mark the 60th anniversary.
Additionally, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Harlem’s Senator Cordell Cleare unveiled a historical marker to commemorate the building in the city where the march was organized in honor of the anniversary. “60 years later is significant because it is saying something. The grandest of ideas do not take place in the grandest of places. It takes place in the basements, in the hall, and small church environments. That’s how it’s done,” said Adams.
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.
