The March on Washington

On 28 August 1963, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom drew about 250,000 people to the Lincoln Memorial. There Martin Luther King Jr. delivered 'I Have a Dream', the defining speech of the civil rights movement.

The demonstration linked demands for civil rights with demands for economic opportunity. Its full name, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, reflected that wider purpose. A. Philip Randolph had proposed a major march as a way to draw attention to the economic position of Black Americans. Civil rights organisations and other supporters worked together to make the gathering possible.

Participants assembled near the Washington Monument before moving toward the Lincoln Memorial. The programme included music as well as speeches by religious and civil rights leaders, making King's address part of a much larger collective event. After the public programme, march leaders met President John F. Kennedy at the White House.

The march also took place while Congress was considering civil rights legislation. Opponents predicted disorder and attempted to prevent or restrict the demonstration, but it proceeded peacefully. Its importance cannot be measured only by the words of a single speech. The presence of so many people in the nation's capital made a public case for change, while the connection between jobs and freedom showed that legal equality and everyday economic conditions were inseparable concerns for the organisers.