March on Washington Anniversary: 50 Years After 'I Have a Dream'
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Tens of thousands of people descended on Washington's National Mall
today to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I
Have a Dream" speech and the March on Washington that took place half
a century ago. President Obama will address the crowd this afternoon from the
Lincoln Memorial.This 'March' Interactive Captures the Moment in 1963
The event also featured members of the King family, lawmakers and civil
rights leaders, including Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who spoke at the 1963 march
and will do so again today. There will be more than a few celebrity
appearances, too.PHOTOS: A Look Back at MLK Jr.
The event was organized by The King Center and The Coalition for Jobs,
Justice and Freedom.INTERACTIVE: Prominent Americans' View on the 'Dream'
Get the latest at our liveblog of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. Updates will appear below automatically when the event starts or at this link if you are on a mobile device.
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ABC’s ALISA WIERSEMA notes that in an interview with ABC’s BYRON PITTS on “Good Morning America,” today civil rights leader and Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., said that although America has changed for the better since 1963, there is still room for improvement -- especially when it comes to the racial disparity in unemployment. “We made progress, but we still have a distance to go,” he said.
Despite voicing a need for greater economic equality, Lewis said he remains optimistic about the country’s general sentiments regarding civil rights: “It’s a better country and we are a better people,” he said. “So when people say nothing has changed, I say come and walk in my shoes.” WATCH: http://abcn.ws/1aPqpIe
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Just after 3 p.m. this afternoon President Obama will deliver remarks at the Lincoln Memorial, ABC’s MARY BRUCE notes. For a president deeply aware of his own place in history, the much-anticipated speech carries with it immense symbolism and high stakes.WHAT OBAMA WILL SAY
“Let me just say for the record right now, it won't be as good as the speech 50 years ago,” President Obama told radio host Tom Joyner in an interview that aired yesterday. “All I can do on an occasion like this," he said, "is just to celebrate the accomplishments of all of those folks whose shoulders we stand on and then remind people that the work is still out there for us to do, and that we honor his speech but also, more importantly in many ways, the organization of the ordinary people who came out for that speech.”
(Later today, the president sits down with PBS’ Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff for an interview focused on civil rights and economic opportunity in America, although other news of the day, including Syria, could certainly come up.)
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Although former President George W. Bush, who is recovering from heart surgery, will not be attending today’s events in Washington, he and former First Lady Laura Bush issued a joint statement marking the occasion.
“Laura and I are proud to join our fellow Americans in commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech,” Bush said in a statement.
The former president also noted the significance of President Obama presiding over the day’s ceremonies: “[Our] President, whose story reflects the promise of America, will help us honor the man who inspired millions to redeem that promise,” Bush said. “May we continue to march toward the day when the dignity and humanity of every person is respected.” -
ABC’s ABBY PHILLIP reports from the National Mall: As we await the beginning of the official program, most people are still waiting to just get access to the mall. There are about nine checkpoints for hundreds -- or thousands of people. There is no real movement to speak of. And the mall itself, the area around the reflecting pool, is virtually empty.
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President Obama's framed copy of the original March on Washington program in the Oval Office. #MLKDream50 , pic.twitter.com/LDoVTUwQhF
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#IMARCHFOR: Today, as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, ABC News wants to know: What are the causes that you care most about? What issue would get you marching? Share with us on Twitter @ABC and @ABCPolitics using the hashtag #IMarchFor
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Kid president poses with a fan at the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington #kidpresident … instagram.com/p/dj0SreQU4o/
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ABC's JOAN E. GREVE: One of the first speakers at today's event, civil rights leader and former Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young, reflected on the March on Washington, saying, “But we knew that the fight was just beginning.” Young added, “His speech was about poverty, and he said that the Constitution was a promissory note.”
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ABC's CHRIS GOOD reports: Due to a single security checkpoint with bag searches, and a massive, clumped "line" to get in, the crowd on the Mall started small as the program got underway, lining the Reflecting Pool roughly a third of the way to the WWII Memorial. (It's much smaller than the crowd at the 2010 Glenn Beck rally). Thousands -- maybe tens of thousands -- are waiting to enter.
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People have been waiting in line in the heat for hours to get into the March, but spirits are still high, ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE and ABBY PHILLIP report. We spoke with Pat Price whose mother Dorit Byrdsong came here from Brooklyn to march 50 years ago."I feel it's my responsibility to come back and not just to commemorate, but for all to look at the issues we have, but also what we have in common to build the country and fulfill the dream Dr. King spoke about."
Price filled out a #IMarchFor poster which reads "#IMarchFor Freedom and Justice My son should not be considered a criminal, but a brilliant, intelligent teenager."
Pat Priceby michael.p.falcone -
“Kid President” Robby Novak told the March on Washington anniversary crowd, “I wasn’t here 50 years ago, but I hope to be in the next 50 years. We all have a duty to make sure the world keeps dreaming for better things. Keep dreaming, keep dreaming, keep dreaming.”
"Kid President" Robby Novak addresses the crowd.
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John Mbugua and son
Giovanni, 6, of San Jose, Calif., and Lavon Johnson and son Mason, 2, of Fort
Meade Md., greet one another while marching from Capitol Hill to the Lincoln
Memorial, Aug. 28, 2013 in Washington. / Chip
Somodevilla/Getty Imagesby michael.p.falcone -
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ABC’s MARY BRUCE: In just a few hours, President Obama will address today’s anniversary gathering. He said yesterday that he was still working on the speech, which is expected to highlight the nation’s progress since King’s historic call for racial and economic justice, but also chart a course for the future. Obama told radio host Tom Joyner he thinks King would be “amazed” by the progress that has been made, citing equal rights before the law and the thousands of African-American elected officials and CEOs. “I think he would say it was a glorious thing,” he said.
“What he would also say, though, is that the March on Washington was about jobs and justice. And that when it comes to the economy, when it comes to inequality, when it comes to wealth, when it comes to the challenges that inner cities experience, he would say that we have not made as much progress as the civil and social progress that we’ve made,” he said. “It’s not enough just to have a black President,” he continued. “The question is, does the ordinary person, day-to-day, can they succeed. And we have not made as much progress as we need to on that, and that is something that I spend all my time thinking about, is how do we give opportunity to everybody so if they work hard they can make it in this country.”
Obama often cites King as one of the people he most admires, even though he was just two years old when the civil rights icon delivered his famous speech. The president keeps a bust of King in the Oval Office and has on display a framed copy of the program from the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. READ MORE: http://abcn.ws/153Rikb -
ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE: Tracey Redd of Washington, DC said he came today because he feels "like I didn't have a choice." His grandparents marched in Mississippi 50 years ago. "They marched so we have the freedom we have today. Each generation has to fight for justice now it's my time to fight for justice. Why wouldn't I be here?" His #IMarchFor poster reads "#IMarchFor Justice and Equality and Trayvon Martin."
Tracey Reddby michael.p.falcone -
ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE and ABBY PHILLIP: Viola Daniels, 80, and Joan Kelly, 74, were waiting in line here together. They marched 50 years ago (not together), but say they have been friends almost that long. Daniels said despite almost fainting earlier today she's here "trying to fulfill the dream."
Joan Kelley said in 1963 there was a "wonderful camaraderie" and "we were on the steps across from the Lincoln Memorial." She added, "I wouldn't miss it for the world.” "Years ago people were afraid to come, but I said I'm going."
Viola Daniel (left) and Joan Kelley.by michael.p.falcone -
Aug. 28, 2013
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ABC's MIKE LEVINE: Many are still waiting to get into the event, and rain is now falling on Washington, DC. With three presidents about to address the crowd, security is very tight. The Secret Service issued the following statement: "We are aware of the delays and are working diligently to process people as quickly as possible through the checkpoints. We and our partners always encourage people attending these events to arrive early and to limit the number of personal items they are carrying to make the lines move faster. Medical assets are in place to assist anyone who becomes ill."
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ABC’s RICK KLEIN: On our digital livestream today, NAACP President Ben Jealous told ABC’s Dan Kloeffler he hopes the energy from today’s event spills over into a social-justice event tomorrow, where minimum-wage workers across the country are organizing to walk out on the job to protest low wages and lack of union benefits.
“Tomorrow, when we will see walkouts of minimum-wage workers who simply cannot survive on $7.25 across this country, we will be called to our conscience again around poverty and saying…let us also go forward and lift that minimum wage so that people working 40 or 50 or even 60 hours a week don’t also have to turn around for public assistance just to make rent money or buy shoes for their kids,” Jealous said.It’s not clear how big the nationwide event will be – it’s had scattered success in various cities – but the nationwide protest was timed to come in the immediate aftermath of today’s commemoration. The Washington Post has some background: http://bit.ly/1f61DRo -
Actor and singer Jamie Foxx told the crowd: “I’m here to celebrate what Dr. King did 50 years [ago]. I’m probably not going to read from the teleprompter because I’m just going to speak from the heart...It’s time for us to stand up now and renew this dream. That’s what we got to do...The young folks, pick it up now, so that when we’re 87 years old talking to the young folks, we can say it was me--Will Smith, Jay-Z, Kanye, Alicia Keys, Carrie Washington, the list goes on and on”
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ABC’s ABBY PHILLIP and SHUSHANNAH WALSHE: Tylik Hunter, 12 goes to Chamberlain Middle School, a charter in Washington, DC. "I'm here to see Barack Obama and I'm also here to celebrate the 50th anniversary," Hunter said. "I feel excited that I'm here celebrating what happened 50 years ago." Hunter's #IMarchFor: “The Stand Your Ground Law so it can be banned.”
Tylik Hunterby michael.p.falcone -
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ABC's JOAN E. GREVE: Rev. Al Sharpton told the crowd, “Fifty years ago, when they came to Washington...it was in the middle of struggles. Dr. King and those who fought with him, they fought and they beat Jim Crow. We come today to not only celebrate and commemorate, but we come as the children of Dr. King to say that we are going to face Jim Crow’s children because Jim Crow had a son called James Crow, Jr., Esq. He writes voting suppression laws and puts it in language that looks different, but the results are the same.”
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Caroline Kennedy, President Kennedy’s daughter and the nominee to be the next U.S. ambassador to Japan, told the crowd: “Fifty years ago, my father watched from the White House as Dr. King and thousands of others recommitted America to our highest ideals.” She added, “Each generation must rededicate itself to the unfinished work of building a free and just America.”
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#IMarchFor Justice: ErnieGreen drove all nite to be at '63 MOW "The March is not a guarantee. It is an opening." pic.twitter.com/v6yzam5BBj
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ABC’s ABBY PHILLIP spoke to Lois Robertson, 65 (left) about her recollections of the March on Washington in 1963: "I saw it on TV,” she said. “My first job here was I taught at the last black high school in prince George's county. The school was integrated in 1970 and they bused white students in.”
Pat Speir, 71, (right) said she lived in western Maryland at the time of the first march. “That
was the year I got married. We're celebrating our 50th anniversary.” Today, she said, she’s “very concerned about the voting rights.”Lois added, "We just felt we really had I be here.”
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Pres Obama has just arrived at the Lincoln Memorial, just in time for Oprah.Aug. 28, 2013
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Melvin Daniel, 60, a Maryland resident was 10 years old and living in Norfolk, Va. in 1963. Back then, he told ABC’s ABBY PHIILIP, “I didn't get the opportunity because I was too young. I was 10. It means a lot to America not only to us as a people but to America. Dr. King was a great leader. Things that he accomplished through marching I don't think word have been accomplished had he not been the kind of leader he was."
Melvin Danieby michael.p.falcone -
Vic Ratner to @GStephanopoulos 50yrs ago DC was shrouded in fear...March began "fear dissipated like the morning fog" pic.twitter.com/ZcvjmmDhIp
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ABC's JOAN E. GREVE: In his remarks John Lewis also said, “The change has come...We have come a great distance in this country in the 50 years, but we still have a great distance to go before we fulfill the dream of Martin Luther King, Jr.” He added, “Sometimes, I hear people saying nothing has changed. But for someone to grow up the way I grew up--in the cotton fields of Alabama--to now serve in the United States Congress makes me want to tell them, ‘Come and walk in my shoes.'"
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Former President Jimmy Carter thanked Dr. King in his speech, saying, “I realize that most people know that it’s highly unlikely that any of us three over on my right would have served in the White House or be on this platform had it not been for Martin Luther King, Jr., and his crusade for civil rights, so we are grateful to him for us being here.”
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Bill Clinton: "A great democracy does not make it harder to vote than to buy an assault weapon."Aug. 28, 2013
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Former President Bill Clinton, the second president to speak at today’s event, said, “In the shadow of Lincoln’s statue, the burning memory of the fact that he gave his life to preserve the Union and end slavery, Martin Luther King urged his crowd not to drink from the cup of bitterness, but to reach across the racial divide because, he said, we cannot walk alone.” Later, he added, "A great democracy does not make it harder to vote than to buy and assault weapon."
“And then he dreamed--of an America where all citizens would sit together at the table of brotherhood,” Clinton said of King. -
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Security-line throng, waiting to get into MLK 50th rally with Obama soon to speak instagram.com/p/dkUswoGlRi/
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More of President Obama’s speech: “On hot summer day, they assembled here in our nation’s capitol, under the shadow of the great emancipator to offer testimony of injustice, to petition their government for redress, to awaken America’s long slumbering conscience. How he gave mighty voice to the quiet hopes of millions, how he offered a salvation path to oppressed and oppressors alike We would do well to recall that that day itself also belonged to those ordinary people whose names never appeared in history books. They’d seen loved ones beaten and children fire-hosed...And yet they chose a different path. In the face of hatred, they prayed for their tormentors...They stood up and sat in with the moral force of nonviolence.”
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President Obama, echoing 2008, maybe 2004: “We will vindicate the faith of those who sacrificed.”Aug. 28, 2013
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In his speech, President Jimmy Carter told the crowd gathered for the March on Washington anniversary that Dr. King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, was with him and his wife in a hotel room when he learned he had been elected president in 1976.
Of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Carter said, “In the Nobel Prize ceremony of 2002, I said that my fellow Georgian was ... ‘the greatest leader that my native state and perhaps my native country had ever produced.’ And I was not excluding presidents and even the founding fathers when I said this.” -
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ABC's MARY BRUCE: President Obama spoke to an estimated crowd of 20,000 -- far fewer than 200,000-plus who attended King's "I Have a Dream" speech 50 years ago -- recalled that historic day in 1963. "On a hot summer day, they assembled here in our nation's capitol, under the shadow of the great emancipator to offer testimony of injustice, to petition their government for redress, to awaken America's long slumbering conscience," he said.
"How he gave mighty voice to the quiet hopes of millions, how he offered a salvation path to oppressed and oppressors alike. We would do well to recall that that day itself also belonged to those ordinary people whose names never appeared in history books." MORE: http://abcn.ws/154AXfl
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ANALYSIS: ‘Flame Remains’: President Obama Seeks New Start in Remembering March on Washington, by ABC’s RICK KLEIN: For President Obama, the hope is that the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington marks a new start, if not quite a new dream. In a day brimming with historical significance, the president reached to the past to frame the choices ahead. He started with the fading but still living history of Martin Luther King Jr., and no person alive could stand as the embodiment of King’s famous dream better than the first African-American president. More significantly, there’s Obama’s own political past – as the vessel through which so many Americans channeled their own hopes and expectations when he burst onto the scene. The “promise of this nation will only be kept when we work together,” Obama declared today, sounding very much like a candidate who wasn’t seasoned by Washington realities. “We’ll have to reignite the embers of empathy and fellow feeling, the coalition of conscience that found expression in this place 50 years ago.” READ MORE: abcn.ws
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ABC’s ABBY PHILLIP and SHUSHANNAH WALSHE spent the day on the National Mall and spoke with John Arnold, 78, who was in Washington 50 years ago and today he came full circle. In 1963 he had a front row seat, standing just yards away from Dr. King and right next to entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr. "Oh golly it's still very exciting, not the same as it was 50 years ago," Arnold said, noting he got to the front then by "worming my way up there."
"He was really a hoot," Arnold said of Sammy Davis Jr. "It was incredible to be part of a quarter of a million people all who had a dream and have Dr. King express it in a way they had never heard
before or since."Arnold was teaching at a school in Washington in 1963, but traveled from Pinehurst, North Carolina to be here today. "It just felt like it was something I wanted to do and needed to do,” he said. Arnold first heard King speak not in 1963 but four years earlier in 1959 as a Yale Divinity School student when he met the civil rights leader and shook his hand.
John Arnold, 78, came to the March in Washington in 1963 and returned to today's commemoration 50 years later.by michael.p.falcone
