The March on Washington


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After Birmingham, President Kennedy proposed a new civil rights bill. To show that the bill had widespread support, civil rights groups united to organize a March on Washington. Organizers hoped to draw a crowd of 100,000, but instead over 250,000 people from around the nation, arriving in more than thirty special trains and 2,000 chartered buses, descended on Washington, DC on August 28, 1963. There, they heard speeches and songs from numerous activists, artists, and civil rights leaders. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered the closing address, his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

The day was an overwhelming success. There was no violence and the event received extensive media coverage. Although it did not have an immediate impact on Congress -- Kennedy's civil rights bill was not passed for nearly a year -- it affected in some way just about everyone who participated or watched.


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Copyright © 1997 Lisa Cozzens (lisa@www.watson.org ). Please read this before you email me!
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