Friday, August 28, 2020, marked the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, more commonly referred to as the March on Washington. More than 250,000 demonstrators came together peacefully to demand voting rights, a higher minimum wage, employment opportunities and an end to racial segregation and discrimination. It was the largest assembly calling for redress of grievances the capitol had ever seen.
The March took place on the 8th anniversary of the murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year old Black boy from Chicago, Illinois who was beaten and shot in LeFlore County, Mississippi. Till's body was returned to his home in Chicago where his mother insisted on an open-casket funeral so that the 50,000 mourners could see for themselves the brutality of his murder. Photos of Till's body were published in Jet magazine; his name and his story became a rallying point for leaders of the era:
The photo of Till with his mother earlier that year alongside Jet’s photo of his mutilated corpse horrified the nation and became a catalyst for the bourgeoning civil rights movement. One hundred days after Till’s murder, Rosa Parks, refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery city bus and was arrested for violating Alabama's bus segregation laws. Reverend Jesse Jackson told Vanity Fair (1988) that “Rosa said she thought about going to the back of the bus. But then she thought about Emmett Till and she couldn’t do it.” (”Emmett Till's Death Inspired a Movement”)
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was deeply impacted by Till’s abduction and murder, delivering a sermon just days after [the murderers'] acquittal, in which he lamented Till and the lack of moral piety among violent segregationists... Dr. King would use the momentum of outrage to galvanize the nation against social and racial injustice, invoking Till’s murder when talking about “the evil of racial injustice” in several speeches, as well as “the crying voice of a little Emmett C. Till, screaming from the rushing waters in Mississippi” in a 1963 Mother’s Day sermon. (”Emmett Till's Death Inspired a Movement”)
Eight years after Till's murder, Dr. King delivered the "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the March on Washington, a defining moment for the civil rights movement.
At 23 years old, John Lewis, who would later represent Georgia’s 5th District in the House of Representatives, was the youngest speaker at the march. Lewis’s remarks had been written collaboratively with members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, but his speech was partially censored by the organizing committee due to "overly radical language." Nevertheless, his speech gave national voice to young civil rights activists' goals. Lewis recalled saying in that speech, "If we do not see meaningful progress here today, we will march through cities, towns and hamlets and villages all across America." And they did. (“5 things you didn't know about the March on Washington and MLK's 'I Have a Dream' speech”; “An Oral History of the March on Washington”)
In his posthumous editorial in the New York Times, Congressman Lewis reflected on the significance of Till’s murder in the civil rights movement:
Emmett Till was my George Floyd. He was my Rayshard Brooks, Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor. He was 14 when he was killed, and I was only 15 years old at the time. I will never ever forget the moment when it became so clear that he could easily have been me. In those days, fear constrained us like an imaginary prison, and troubling thoughts of potential brutality committed for no understandable reason were the bars. (“Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation”)
The history of the original March on Washington is complex, and despite being a signature moment in the Civil Rights Era, Black women’s voices were marginalized and the march itself was segregated by gender. Over the years, activists have come to understand that Black women are (and have been) central to the modern civil rights movement. For example, Black Lives Matter, founded in 2013 in response to the murder of Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of his murderer, was created by three women - Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi. Perhaps the most prominent social justice movement today, BLM continues to be led by Black women.
Though sponsorship and focus has changed from year to year, a commemorative march has been held every year since 1957. This year’s march organizers, the National Action Network, centered the rally around police accountability reform, issues related to the census and voter mobilization. (“Activists gather for another March on Washington, 57 years later”; “Commitment March: Get Your Knee Off Our Necks”)
Additional information:
- For an annotated version of John Lewis’s speech, see “John Lewis’s Censored Speech to the 1963 March on Washington, Before and After”
- For a pictorial history, see “Same Date, 8 Years Apart: From Emmett Till's Murder to 'I Have a Dream’ in Photos”
- For a discussion of women’s roles in the March (including mentions of Myrlie Evers-Williams ’68), see “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom”, “The Long History of Black Women’s Exclusion in Historic Marches on Washington“ and “Where Were the Women in the March on Washington?”
- For the story of the openly gay civil rights strategist who organized the March, see “Bayard Rustin: The Man Who Organized the March on Washington” and “Why MLK’s Right-Hand Man, Bayard Rustin, Was Nearly Written Out of History”
- “Chinonye Chukwu To Helm Film On How Mamie Till Mobley Turned Son Emmett Till’s Brutal Murder Into Civil Rights Movement Catalyst; Barbara Broccoli, Whoopi Goldberg Producing”
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