The March on Washington
Facts for kids
The following fact
sheet contains interesting facts and information on the March on Washington.
March on Washington
Facts for kids
March on Washington
Facts - 1: During the spring
of 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr. had led Civil Rights
protests in Birmingham, the most thoroughly segregated
city in the United States.
March on Washington
Facts -
2: The Birmingham campaign in
Mississippi led to extreme violence, riots and thousands
of arrests, including that of Martin Luther King, Jr.
who wrote his famous
Letter from Birmingham
Jail.
March on Washington
Facts - 3: Following the events of the
Birmingham campaign direct-action protests flared across the
country. President Kennedy was
outraged at the violence and level of brutality used in
Birmingham, Mississippi. JFK was embarrassed by the
international media coverage of the race riots and concerned by
accusations that the government was losing control.
March on Washington
Facts - 4: The events during the
Birmingham campaign led JFK to order his administration to
prepare a new Civil Rights Bill. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other
prominent leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, realized that JFK
would have difficulty pushing the new Civil Rights Bill through
Congress.
March on Washington
Facts - 5: To achieve their aims the
Civil Rights leaders needed a way to lobby Congress, attract
powerful attention from the media and increase public support for
their cause.
March on Washington
Facts - 6: A. Philip
Randolph, a leader in the African-American Civil Rights
Movement and the American labor movement, together with
Civil Rights activist Bayard Rustin, had previously
planned a similar massive protest march on Washington
for jobs, justice, equality and opportunity during WW2.
March on Washington
Facts - 7: A. Philip Randolph
knew that such a protest would be extremely effective.
In 1941 he had threatened to organize a march on
Washington to protest against segregation in the armed
forces and racial discrimination in employment.
March on Washington
Facts - 8: A. Philip
Randolph's radical threat of a march on Washington had
prompted President Franklin D. Roosevelt to issue
Executive Order 8802 to ban racial discrimination in the
national defense industry.
March on Washington
Facts -
9: A. Philip Randolph
suggested the idea of a massive march on Washington to
Martin Luther King, Jr. and MLK agreed to his proposal.
The threat of a march on Washington drew the attention
of the government and President Kennedy.
March on Washington
Facts - 10: On June 22, 1963
President Kennedy met with Civil Rights leaders at the
White House to get them to call off the march on
Washington. The Civil Rights leaders who attended the
meeting were A. Phillip Randolph, Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. (SCLC), Jim Farmer (CORE), John Lewis (SNCC),
Roy Wilkens (NAACP), and Whitney Young (Urban League).
March on Washington
Facts -
11: The Civil Rights
leaders would not call off the march but agreed with JFK
that the event would be a legally sanctioned march, in
cooperation with authorities. Agreement was also reached
that all marchers would leave Washington before
nightfall and that no unauthorized banners (criticizing
the government) would be allowed.
March on Washington
Facts - 12: The March on Washington was
scheduled for Wednesday, August 28, 1963. The Civil Rights leaders
had just eight weeks to organize the massive event.
March on Washington
Facts - 13: The job of organizing the
event was controversially given to Bayard Rustin. He was was
whole-heartedly supported by A. Philip Randolph, Martin Luther King,
Jr. and Jim Farmer but Roy Wilkens of the NAACP and Whitney
Young of the Urban League raised objections.
March on Washington
Facts - 14: Bayard Rustin had been sent to
jail during WW2 as a Conscientious Objector and being gay had once
been arrested as a homosexual on a “morals” charge. Wilkens and
Young were fearful of adverse publicity but knew that Rustin was the
only man with the organizational skills to get the job done.
March on Washington
Facts - 15: A compromise was
reached and it was agreed that A. Philip Randolph would
be the head of the march, in name only, and Bayard
Rustin would be the deputy director of the march.
Continued...
March on Washington
Facts for kids
Facts
about the March on Washington for kids
The following fact
sheet continues with facts about the March on Washington.
March on Washington
Facts for kids
March on Washington
Facts - 16: Organizing the
March on Washington in such a short space of time was
incredibly difficult. Bayard Rustin established a
headquarters in Harlem, near 7th Avenue, Manhattan in
New York City. Black and white supporters volunteered to
help. Communications and transportation were major
issues.
March on Washington
Facts - 17: Funds had to be
raised to help to pay for long distance travel from all
parts of the country to Washington. Civil Rights groups
such as the NAACP, CORE, SCLC and SNCC were galvanized
into raising funds together with church and student
groups and labor unions.
March on Washington
Facts - 18: The coordination of transport
including trains, planes, and automobiles was an
enormous task.
March on Washington
Facts - 19: Speakers had to be
organized and representatives from different religious
bodies and inter-denominational organizations had to be
contacted. Speeches had to be prepared and suitable
music, hymns and prayers had to be agreed.
March on Washington
Facts - 20: The speakers
included all of the "Big Six" civil-rights leaders,
Protestant, Catholic and Jewish religious leaders and
labor leader Walter Reuther. The one female speaker was
Josephine Baker.
March on Washington
Facts -
21: There was also
entertainment to be considered. Famous singers of the
time such as Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul and Mary, Joan Baez,
Mahalia Jackson and Marian Anderson all volunteered to
participate in the event.
March on Washington
Facts -
22: Actors were also
to be represented by famous celebrities such as Charlton
Heston, Harry Belafonte, Sammy Davis Jr., Lena Horne,
Marlon Brando, Diahann Carroll, Paul Newman, and Sidney
Poitier.
March on Washington
Facts -
23: The program of
events had to be agreed, who was going to talk and how
much time each person had available. Once agreed, the
program had to be distributed across the nation as did a
statement prepared by the heads of ten organizations
calling for discipline in connection with the March on
Washington.
March on Washington
Facts -
24: The Lincoln
Memorial program of events was also accompanied by
10
Demands of the March on Washington which were to be
read by Bayard Rustin.
March on Washington
Facts -
25: Thousands traveled
by road, rail, and air to Washington D.C. on Wednesday,
August 28. At 11.30 am they began to march from the
Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial.
March on Washington
Facts -
26: 1. The National
Anthem: Marian Anderson was scheduled to lead the
National Anthem but failed to make it on time and was
replaced by Camilla Williams.
March on Washington
Facts -
27: 2. Archbishop
Patrick O'Boyle, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Washington, said a prayer which began the March on
Washington program of events.
March on Washington
Facts -
28: 3. The March on Washington director,
A. Philip Randolph, delivered the opening remarks to the
largest and longest demonstration in the history of the
nation. In his speech he spoke of the moral
revolution for jobs and freedom
March on Washington
Facts -
29: 4. Presbyterian Church leader, Rev
Dr. Eugene Carson Blake, gave a speech emphasizing the
need for all religious leaders to come together in order
to achieve a racially integrated society.
March on Washington
Facts -
30: 5. Bayard Rustin
led a tribute to "Negro Women Fighters for Freedom" in
which which Daisy Bates spoke briefly in place of Myrlie
Evers, who had missed her flight. The tribute introduced
Rosa Parks, Diane Nash, Prince E. Lee, and Gloria
Richardson.
March on Washington
Facts -
31: 6.
SNCC chairman John Lewis, one of
the original
1961 Freedom Riders,
had some of his original speech censored because he
criticized the Kennedy administration. His revised
speech was still fiery and emphasized the need to
protect people from police brutality.
March on Washington
Facts -
32: 7. White Labor
leader Walter Reuther gave a speech which linked the
goals of organized labor to those of the black freedom
struggle.
March on Washington
Facts -
33: 8. CORE chairman
Floyd McKissick replaced CORE director James Farmer, who
had been imprisoned following a Civil Rights
demonstration in Louisiana. Floyd McKissick read a
message James Farmer stating that the fight for legal
and economic equality would not stop "until the dogs
stop biting us in the South and the rats stop biting us
in the North."
March on Washington
Facts -
34: 9. Eva Jessye
directed the official choir who sang a gospel selection
for the historic March on Washington.
March on Washington
Facts -
35: 10. Rabbi Uri Miller, president of
the Synagogue Council of America, offered a prayer
March on Washington
Facts -
36: 11. Whitney Young,
National Urban League director, made it clear that
Congress needed to pass legislation that would correct
the damage of past discrimination
March on Washington
Facts -
37: 12. Mathew Ahmann,
on behalf of the National Catholic Conference for
Interracial Justice, asked the question "Who can call
himself a man, and take part in a system of segregation
which frightens the white man into denying what he knows
to be right, into denying the law of his God?"
March on Washington
Facts -
38: 13.
NAACP
leader Roy Wilkins delivered a rousing speech that
effectively captured the militant spirit among many
civil rights workers
March on Washington
Facts -
39: 14. Mahalia
Jackson, the Queen of Gospel, wowed the crowd singing
the spiritual "I've Been 'Buked and I've Been Scorned"
at the March on Washington
March on Washington
Facts -
40: 15. Joachim Prinz,
American Jewish Congress president, spoke of Jewish
ancient history began with slavery and the yearning for
freedom and said "The most shameful problem is silence"
March on Washington
Facts -
41: 16. The last
person to make a speech was
SCLC
president Martin Luther King, Jr. It was at the March on
Washington rally that he made one of the most famous
speeches in American History, referred to as the "I have
a dream" speech that powerfully visualized his dream of
freedom and equality for all Americans.
March on Washington
Facts -
42: 17. Bayard Rustin then read the 10
Demands of the March on Washington for the crowd's
approval.
March on Washington
Facts -
43: 18. A. Philip Randolph then led the
crowd in a pledge to continue working for the goals of
the march.
March on Washington
Facts -
44: 19. The program
the March on Washington was closed with a benediction by
Benjamin Mays the president of Morehouse College,
Atlanta, Georgia
March on Washington
Facts -
45: The peaceful March on Washington,
together with the powerful "I have a dream" speech by
Martin Luther King, Jr., built support for JFK's new
Civil Rights Bill. The
JFK Assassination
brought a tragic and untimely death of the president
before he could sign new Civil Rights Bill.
March on Washington
Facts -
46: The
Civil Rights Act of
1964 was signed into law by President Lyndon B.
Johnson, banning discrimination, ending racial
segregation, and protecting the voting rights of women
and minority groups.
March on Washington
Facts for kids
March on Washington - President John
F Kennedy Video
The article on the March on Washington provides detailed facts and a summary of one of the important events during his presidential term in office. The following
John F Kennedy video will
give you additional important facts and dates about the political events experienced by the 35th American President whose presidency spanned from January 20,1961 to November 22, 1963.
March on Washington
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Interesting Facts about March on Washington for kids and schools
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Summary of the March on Washington in US history
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The March on Washington, a major
event in US history
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John F Kennedy from January 20,1961 to November 22, 1963
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Fast, fun facts about the March on Washington
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Foreign & Domestic
policies of President John F Kennedy
● John F Kennedy Presidency and
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