The March on Washington was scheduled for August 28, 1963. I submitted my leave request at the National Bureau of Standards, where I worked as a chemist.
When the day arrived, my wife took me close to the Mall as authorized. The area was blocked off, with Metropolitan Police and National Guard at every corner. As I got out of the car, the announcer for NBC was talking about the potential for violence and the readiness of the security to keep things under control.
When I got near the Washington Monument, there already was an ocean of people. Buses were still arriving with more people. I joined a friend, and we walked to the Lincoln Memorial and found a good spot in the shade of the monument, just down from the platform.
We heard the speakers, civil rights leaders, priests, rabbis and a litany of others, all mixed in with great spirituals. It was almost over, and my friend said to me, "I feel like something is going to happen." Nothing did.
Then A. Phillip Randolph, like an afterthought, introduced Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who had led a successful bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, to say a few words.
My friend looked at me and for a few moments, King said very little, but then collected himself.
He belted out "I HAVE A DREAM...." The crowd hushed. And then I knew what my friend had been feeling. We looked at each other and could not hold back the tears.
We left there on a high, not like you get with a promotion, a graduation, or at a wedding.
We knew as well as the world now knew, the March on Washington had been ordained by God and that we had been privileged to participate in a once-in-a-lifetime successful event.
I graduated from JCSU in May 1963, and I traveled to Syracuse University for Peace Corps training in July. I had just completed my ten weeks of Peace Corps training to go to Liberia the week of the march. On the way back to North Carolina from New York, I stopped in Washington just to be a part of the march.
This was important to me because I had spent four years at JCSU actively involved in the Civil Rights Movement. I had no idea that this would be such an historic event, this March on Washington. I felt love from everyone in the enormous crowd and my heart raced as I heard the various speakers.
I pondered: Where did all of these people come from? We should be able to totally change this country with this large crowd and energy.
On August 24, 2013, I will participate again and I feel compelled to say to everyone: you can't afford not to be there because although there has been a lot of change, we face some of the same injustices today as we did in 1963.
She also spoke to us after attending the 50th anniversary event:
Barbara also spoke to us about what life was like at JCSU when she attended before Charlotte was integrated:
She also shared her thoughts on how JCSU helped her in the struggle:
I was at Howard University School of Law and marched with a group of people – some of whom I knew. I was just astonished at the number of people who were coming out to be a part of the march. I started working with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee as a founding member in 1960. We were still very much a part of the civil rights activities involved in the March on Washington.
John Lewis, who I’ve known since 1960, was a member of the Freedom Riders. He was also a part of the discussions with Dr. King about what should be included as part of Dr. King’s speech. The primary concern we had was what we would say to President (John F.) Kennedy. We were concerned there would not be a clear statement to the administration that this assembly of 250,000 people was demanding action on the Public Accommodations Act* and on the Voting Rights Act that were before Congress.
Martin [i.e. Dr. King] was a little hesitant to challenge the Kennedys, but John Lewis threatened to speak if Martin didn’t. At the last minute, Martin agreed and challenged the administration to enact in Congress the Public Accommodations and Voting Rights acts. The Public Accommodations and Voting Rights acts passed Congress with pressure from Vice President (Lyndon B.) Johnson.
As I stood there, 10 to 15 rows from Martin and the group, I was awed. I had goose bumps. He went into the “I Have A Dream” speech. Martin was one of the most articulate persons on the planet. I thanked God that I was a part of the march and walked back to Howard University School of Law.
I’m so blessed at this point in my life being authenticated by sit-ins at JCSU, participating as one of the Freedom Riders, spending 30 days on a chain gang in Rock Hill, S.C., being jailed in Montgomery, Ala., and then in Albany, Ga., and overall helping to organize the Civil Rights Movement.
* Public Accommodations Act: All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, and privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.
Charles Jones shared his thoughts with our staff:
Charles Jones also provided this news clipping from "The Charlotte Observer" that is a retrospective about the sit-in movement in the Queen City (below).
I was spending the summer in Brooklyn, New York, working at my uncle's restaurant, McDonald's Dining Room. My uncle called me and my cousin Brenda to his office to talk with him. He told us he could not go to Washington for the March, so Brenda and I had to go.
That was a surprise because he said we could ride down with Frank, who was my cousin Brenda's boyfriend who attended North Carolina College at Durham.
We left the night before the March. We got to our hotel rooms around midnight. We were up early the next morning to stake out our route and joined the march.
I remember the speeches and the singers — especially Harry Belefonte. I was awed by Dr. King's speech. I felt proud and responsible. The event gave me, a college student from the South, hope for a bright future.
I remember that I was 10 years old. I really didn't understand a lot about what was going on then other than all the adults were talking about the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
I remember there was a man named Mr. Bernard in the community who was a member of the NAACP, and he wanted all of the children in the neighborhood to march with him and their parents from Alexandria, Virginia to Washington.
I remember walking across the 14th Street bridge and seeing more and more people joining as we marched toward the Washington Monument.
I remember listening to Dr. Martin Luther King giving his speech. I remember seeing so many people. I remember it was a great day.
When I first learned of the March on Washington, I was eager to participate in any way possible. As a student, I experienced being put in jail in Denmark, S.C. for protesting and participated in demonstrations in Charlotte, NC so I wanted to be a part of what I assumed to be an event of greater impact.
Early in the preparation stages, I signed up as a volunteer with a local community organization in my neighborhood. There were a lot of meetings in preparation for the march, which included making posters and signs and instructing people on the concept of non-violence in case something went wrong. We went from church to church in the area to get people to participate in the march and to see whether the churches were willing to provide housing for out-of-town participants.
As the date of the march grew closer, the excitement level increased. I don’t think anyone on the planning committee had much rest the days leading up to the march. As a marshal, I was responsible for helping to maintain order. This included providing directions, passing out programs and observing the crowd for any acts of violence. If we observed any issues, we were instructed to notify the police to help maintain order; however, around my post, there were no issues at all.
On the day of the march, my duty station was on the north side of the Lincoln Memorial near the front. From my post, I could clearly see the stage and the crowd observing on the National Mall. The whole day was a breathtaking experience.
As we all reflect on the March on Washington now, the event and Dr. King’s speech are held in high esteem. But going in, we didn’t know the magnitude of what we were going to experience. In the last few days prior to the march, we were somewhat unsure of how big the event would be, but as morning turned to afternoon, I was able to see the crowd grow to a level beyond our wildest dreams. It was a long day, but by the end after Dr. King spoke, the crowd was extremely emotional and everyone was hugging and singing together.
I was ten years old and was being raised by a single mother with a younger sister and two younger brothers in the Marion Garden projects in Jersey City, N.J.
Ma told us that this would be part of history; that didn't mean much at the time. I was thinking that some of my friends would see me on television and that I would have to fight when I got back.
We boarded the buses, I remember the singing and the good spirits. When we got to D.C. there were people as far as the eye could see!
The march began, and I was handed a sign to carry. I wondered why there were white people at the march.
We listened to the speakers, and what got my attention was when Dr. King spoke of his children. I will always remember what he said and that I was a part of it.
U.S. Congressman (D-GA 5th District)
Congressman John Lewis is one of the most noted civil rights leaders of our time. He was a founding member and chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which helped organize the March on Washington. At age 23, Congressman Lewis was one of the keynote speakers at the march.
In April 2013, Johnson C. Smith University presented its prestigious Arch of Triumph Award to Congressman Lewis for his lifetime of sacrifice, leadership and achievement. He accepted the award at the Arch of Triumph Gala on April 20, 2013.
Congressman Lewis’s biography and some of his notable achievements are below:
One of the Civil Rights Movement’s most courageous sons, Congressman John Lewis has dedicated his life to protecting human rights, securing civil liberties, and building what he calls “The Beloved Community” in America. His commitment to promoting the highest of ethical standards and moral principles has earned him the admiration of colleagues from both sides of Congress, as well as distinctions such as “the conscience of the U.S. Congress,” and “…a genuine American hero and moral leader who commands widespread respect in the chamber,” according to Roll Call magazine.
Such designations might have seemed unattainable for the son of sharecroppers born in the 1940s in rural Alabama. But for Lewis, who grew up on his family’s farm outside of Troy, Alabama and as a young boy attended segregated public schools in Pike County, the decision to become a part of the Civil Rights Movement was almost inevitable. Inspired by the activism surrounding the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., which he heard on radio broadcasts, Lewis reveled in those pivotal moments and since then has remained at the vanguard of progressive social movements and the human rights struggle in the United States.
As a student at Fisk University, he organized sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in Nashville, and in 1961, participated in the Freedom Rides, which challenged segregation at interstate bus terminals across the South. During the height of the movement, Lewis, dubbed one of the movement’s Big Six leaders, was named Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which he helped form, and at age 23 was a keynote speaker at the historic March on Washington in August 1963.
On March 7, 1965, Lewis, along with notable Civil Rights leader Hosea Williams, helped spearhead one of the most seminal moments of the Civil Rights Movement. The pair intended to lead over 600 peaceful, orderly protestors marching for voting rights across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, but was brutally attacked by Alabama state troopers in a vicious confrontation that became known as “Bloody Sunday.” This senseless cruelty, captured by news broadcasts and in photographs, helped hasten the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Despite more than 40 arrests, physical attacks and serious injuries, Lewis remained devoted to the philosophy of nonviolence. After leaving SNCC in 1966, he went on serve as director of the federal volunteer agency, ACTION, and the Voter Education Project in which he added nearly four million minorities to the voter rolls. Lewis was elected to the Atlanta City Council in 1981 and to Congress in 1986 where he has since served as U.S. Representative of Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District.
A graduate of Fisk University and American Baptist Theological Seminary, Lewis holds a B.A. in religion and philosophy, as well as over 50 honorary degrees from prestigious colleges and universities across the country, including Morehouse and Spelman colleges, as well as Harvard, Brown, Princeton, Duke, and Johnson C. Smith universities.
The author of a new book entitled Across That Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change (2012), he is also the recipient of countless awards including the only John F. Kennedy “Profile in Courage Award” for Lifetime Achievement ever granted by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, the NAACP Spingarn Medal, and the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor granted by President Barack Obama.
Ambassador Andrew J. Young is widely recognized as one of the nation’s foremost leaders for civil rights in the United States and human rights around the world. During the Civil Rights Movement, Ambassador Young served as an aide to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and helped to plan the March on Washington as well as protests and demonstrations throughout the South.
On May 19, Ambassador Young delivered the Commencement Address to the Johnson C. Smith University Class of 2013. He challenged graduates to find their individual calling and work to solve the world’s problems. Ambassador Young told them that God has a purpose for everything, and He has a purpose for each of them.
Ambassador Young’s biography and some of his notable achievements are below:
Andrew Young has always viewed his career through the lens of his first career – that of ordained minister. His work for civil and human rights, his many years in public office as Congressman, United Nations Ambassador and Mayor of Atlanta, his leadership of the Atlanta Olympic Games, his advocacy of investment in Africa through GoodWorks International, and the establishment of the Andrew J. Young Foundation are all a response to his call to serve.
Ambassador Young brings a unique perspective formed by his wealth of experience in national and global leadership to his focus on the challenges of this era. He confronted segregation with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and galvanized a movement that transformed a nation through non-violence. Young was a key strategist and negotiator during the Civil Rights Campaigns in Birmingham and Selma that resulted in passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
He was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1972, the first African American elected from the deep South since Reconstruction. He served on the Banking and Urban Affairs and Rules Committees, sponsoring legislation that established a U.S. Institute for Peace, The African Development Bank and the Chattahoochee River National Park,while negotiating federal funds for MARTA, the Atlanta highway system and a new international airport for Atlanta.
Ambassador Young’s support for Jimmy Carter helped Carter to win the Democratic Party nomination and election to the Presidency. In 1977, President Carter appointed him to serve as the nation’s first African American Ambassador to the United Nations, where he negotiated an end to white-minority rule in Namibia and Zimbabwe and brought Carter’s emphasis on human rights to international diplomacy.
Ambassador Young’s leadership as Mayor of Atlanta took place during a recession and a reduction in federal funds for cities. He turned to international markets for investments in Atlanta attracting 1,100 new businesses, $70 billion in investment and adding one million jobs to the region. He developed public-private partnerships to leverage public dollars for the preservation of Zoo Atlanta.
Ambassador Young led the effort to bring the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games to Atlanta and as Co-Chair of the Atlanta Olympic Committee, he oversaw the largest Olympic Games in history – in the number of countries, the number of athletes and the number of spectators. He was awarded the Olympic Order, the highest award of the Olympic Movement.
Ambassador Young retired from GoodWorks International, LLC, in 2012 after well over a decade of facilitating sustainable economic development in the Caribbean and in Africa to the business sector.
Ambassador Young has received honorary degrees from more than 100 universities and colleges in the U.S. and abroad. President Jimmy Carter awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and France awarded him the Legion d’Honneur, the greatest civilian honors in each nation.
He recently received an EMMY for Lifetime Achievement, and in 2011, his portrait became part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. President William J. Clinton appointed him the founding chair of the Southern African Enterprise Development Fund.
He serves on a number of boards, including the Martin Luther King Center for Non-Violent Social Change, Barrick Gold, the United Nations Foundation, the Atlanta Falcons, the Andrew Young School for Policy Studies at Georgia State University and Morehouse College.
The March on Washington struck a chord with so many JCSU students, past, present and future, and sticks out in their memories.
Here are a few of the memories about that great day that our alumni chose to share with us.
I wish I could have been there. I was one of the student leaders of the sit-ins along with Charles Jones and Brummit Delaney.
In May of 1963, I had just finished graduate school and had no job and no money. I had to stay home so I watched the march with my mother.
What a glorious experience to be able to witness such an unforgettable moment with the greatest person in my life.
I was 13 years old at the time and in the eighth grade. I saw the march on television, and I was in awe of the number of participants and speakers on the platform. I had read about them and knew of their participation in the civil rights struggle.
I remember the march as a struggle against the social conditions I had lived under at the time, including segregated schools and public accommodations.
Seeing this momentous event on television made me aware that I, as a young Black person was missing much in life: equal opportunities to go to integrated theatres, carnivals, schools. But it gave me a view that better days might lie ahead if members of my age group and our elders continued to agitate for social change.
I did not attend the march as I was returning to Charlotte from working in New York all summer.
I did watch it on television and was chilled to see that so many people of all races joined together to hear Dr. King and fight for a cause that was long overdue. Also, I am aware that some of my classmates joined in that cause.
Dr. King was such a powerful man and could move mountains. It saddens me now that all the work that he and others did has taken a back seat, and we are not moving forward after 50 years.
I still have the "Dream" for my children and grandchildren.
Dorothy Counts-Scoggins was the first African American to attend the all-white Harding High School. There she braved crowds of jeering protestors who swore and spit at her and threw things at her as she walked through the door. School officials and police told her parents that they could not secure her safety and she was sent to live with family in Philadelphia and attend an integrated school. She later moved back to the Queen City and furthered her education at Johnson C. Smith.
I watched the march on the old black and white television in the Carter Hall lounge on campus. It was one of the most moving moments of my life.
It struck home because we at Smith had the opportunity to meet many of the Freedom Riders traveling south during the late spring and early summer when they came through Charlotte.
Mrs. Jones, my English professor at Smith, had a son, Charlie Jones, who was very active in the movement. The March on Washington will live with me forever.
My children are now 35 and 40 years old, and I constantly remind them of the effect that the march had on my life.
I did not go to the march. I spent my whole day watching it on television.
My favorite quote was "I have a dream that my four 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."
My faith has led me to believe it is still possible.
First of all, in 1960 I participated in the sit-in demonstrations that I appreciate even until this day. The students at JCSU were very active in that movement.
Today, I have no regrets because we made a difference. We paid a price, but the benefits gained are nice.
I did not physically attend the March on Washington. However, I was there in spirit with my eyes glued to the TV every chance I got. There was a feeling of fear and a feeling of pride.
I had never seen so many people of different races, colors and religions gathered in one place participating in one of the greatest events in this country's history.
There were many risks associated with the march, but the benefits we are enjoying today outweighed the risks.
I was 13 years old and lived in Green-Ridge, an all-white community in Scranton, Penn. I watched the march that afternoon in front of my childhood friend, Billy Young's, television with his family. Mr. and Mrs. Young explained to us the significance of the event.
The Youngs, who were white, expressed their hope that the issues related to segregation would be abandoned and that equal treatment under the law should be the law of the land.
I was mesmerized by Dr. King's words, and I had never seen so many Black folks assembled anywhere before. At that time, we may have seen a black person on TV as seldom as once a week.
My parents were members of a very small local chapter of the NAACP and discussed the event with me and my siblings as well.
In 1962-63, Veronica (an undergraduate student), and I (a JCSU theological student), were actively involved in protest activities in Charlotte and did not travel to Washington for the march.
Veronica protested with a few other students at the Belk store because Belk refused to allow Black women to try on hats. She did it anyway and was escorted out of the store.
On the way to preach at a Black Presbyterian church in Statesville, N.C., I sat in the "white only" section of a bus and was confronted by a policeman. I claimed I couldn’t read, so I didn’t understand the sign. Therefore, they let the “stupid boy” stay seated, and I rode the entire trip at the front of the bus. On the way home, I waited purposefully for the same exact bus on which I had arrived. The bus driver and policeman remembered me as the boy who couldn’t read and let me sit in the front again.
The Charlotte Observer articles below are about an injured JCSU football player who died after being denied care at a segregated hospital in Charlotte and the protests that followed. Veronica and I met at this protest. We were side-by-side peacefully protesting in a line when she was knocked down by a white man (possibly a KKK member). I went to retaliate against him and was escorted back to campus. Later that week, Veronica came up to me in the cafeteria to thank me, but she also let me know I could have been hurt. We started dating from then on.
Our activism continued. I was forced out of a segregated restaurant with a shotgun by the owner for sitting at the counter. Veronica and I were escorted out of a dentist’s waiting room for sitting in the "white only" section. We did not have time to make it to Washington, D.C. for the big march. There was enough to do in Charlotte.
We are both retired now. Veronica was awarded "Professor Emeritus" by the Board of Trustees at Raritan Valley Community College in New Jersey, and I was awarded "Professor Emeritus" by the President and Board of Governors at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Leonard and Veronica Bethel also provided these articles from The Charlotte Observer about the hospital protest:
I didn't make the march. I was probably looking for a job! It was as hard back then as it is now to find work.
I do remember many people thinking that there would be violence at the march. I was happy that the event was peaceful.
This was truly a historic and changing time. We've come so far since then, but we have forgotten to educate our youth.
Dr. King would be very disappointed at our neglect in improving the plight of so many of our youth. We should insist that our children attend and graduate from high school.
We are allowing too many of our youngsters to become parents when they are just kids themselves and unable to give their children a decent home, education or good quality of life.
Dr. King would be very disappointed that we don't insist that our young people take advantage of every educational opportunity.
After all, education is a sum total of your experiences.
I remember the March on Washington Rev. King's speech. The March on Washington had been building for some time, and the event was the culmination of the frustration of all minorities.
Unfortunately, I could not go to Washington for this event, but the pride I felt was outstanding. It seems that Black people had a togetherness that is not duplicated in today's world.
I personally feel that we as Black people need to return to that closeness of the sixties instead of killing one another!
Growing up in Winston-Salem, N.C., I did participate in marches and protests during this period. I vividly remember marching and protesting in front of the K&W Cafeteria because people who looked like me could not eat there.
Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech was the operation that America needed on its heart and soul. The speech gave those of us who were marginalized, hope and inspiration. I still play Dr. King's speech to this day because of its impact upon the social justice fabric of this country.
While I was not there in 1963, our television set cried out to us as we watched him.
I was privileged to have met Dr. King prior to his assassination. His spirit lives through us as we continue to stay on the walk for justice and fair treatment.
I was not in the country when the March on Washington occurred. I was a junior studying in Japan.
The Japanese were interested in what was happening and were shocked that I had a friendship with a white female from Concord, N.C. This was an unusual relationship considering what was happening in the lower 48 states. It was the white female student's first opportunity to get to know an African American. This unique relationship made the Japanese news.
It was a relationship that posed many questions that we discussed, (two from the South, one Black and another white who lived in very close proximity to each other's homes). We would not have met had we both remained in our own hometowns.
When we returned to the United States, she visited me with tears in her eyes stating that her parents would not allow her to continue our friendship.
We were both challenged with what was happening in the United States. I think it was difficult for my white friend to be in this situation. We were asked many questions. I did what I could do. I prayed for God's care and His peace to prevail.
I was at home in Jakin, Ga., where I watched the entire march on TV. My parents and younger siblings watched also.
My memory from Smith was the Saturday when many of us went downtown and marched around the counter at Kresge or Woolworth, whatever was in Charlotte where Blacks were not served. Two of our Smithites (one was called Cookie) sat at the counter, ordered and were served because they thought they were the opposite color.
Once they were served, we stopped marching and chatted with them. What facial expressions did we see!!!
I remember vividly that I came home, turned on the TV and intended to go back to my car to retrieve something. However, Dr. King was just beginning to speak. I was immediately captured by his words. I sat down, leaving the car door open for the duration of his speech. The speech launched me on a lifelong journey of reading his speeches and studying all aspects of the Civil Rights Movement. As a result of my study, I wrote a play, "Words from the Trail" about the trials and triumphs of life on the road to freedom.
In the play I write a letter to Dr. King that reads:
Dear Martin,
I stand here today before a group of people, many of whom were yet unborn when you gave your speech at the March on Washington in August 1963. Many, fortunately, have never experienced directly the bitter taste of segregation and discrimination. Many, unfortunately, believe that the struggle is over.
It was hot that August day, Martin, so hot that some said that the sun seemed to set them on fire. But many of us were already on fire. On fire for the riches of freedom, on fire for the security of justice, on fire for the benefit of equal opportunity, many of us have been on fire for a very long time.
We miss you, Martin, we miss your leadership and your direction. You, Martin, were the glue that kept so many of us, with different opinions, focused on the real problem, that being America's unwillingness to grant full citizenship to her poor and her people of color.
Martin, you were a new prophet declaring that the promises of old prophets must be kept. You were a new Amos when you declared, "let justice roll down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream."
Martin, it is hard to believe that it has been 45 years since you were snatched from our presence; so sudden, so dramatic, so devastating. You moved a nation to take another look at how it was treating the poor and her people of color. Your way was the right way. But there are those who say that you cannot use 1960’s tactics to solve 2013's problems. Some of us beg to differ. Give us that old time enthusiasm, give us that old time commitment, give us that old time spirit. It is good enough for me. It was good enough for you, Martin, it was good enough for Malcolm, it was good enough for Medgar, it will be good enough for you. It was good for Marcus Garvey and Mary McCleod Bethune. It was good for Roy Wilkins, and it will be good enough for you. It moved thousands to march for freedom, marching to set their people free facing harm and abuse and danger, not just for themselves, but for you and for me.
So give me that old time commitment, give me that old time spirit, give me that old time religion, it's good enough for me. Oh it can make you feel like shouting, it can make you feel renewed, it can give you a sense of purpose for the things that you need to do. Can we let those leaders down who have died and gone before us, gone to take their place in glory to receive their just reward? They toiled long here in this vineyard as their leaders had before them, but as they look down here upon us, what is the situation they see? Folks are still divided, getting so little done and not even close to coming together to act as one. Knowing our situation is a bad one, we still wait for someone else to set us free.
Oh, you can’t crawl your way to freedom. You’ve got to stand up if you want to be free. But we can pull it together and make a commitment to unity. If everyone pulls in the same direction, not you for you and me for me. But, when it does come together, there will be something for all to do. You can start by treating your neighbor the way you want them to treat you.