Martin Luther King Jr.

===March on Washington, 1963===
{{Main|March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom}}
[[File:Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. (Leaders of the march posing in front of the statue of Abraham Lincoln... - NARA - 542063 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Leaders of the March on Washington posing in front of the Lincoln Memorial]]
[[File:March on Washington edit.jpg|thumb|upright|The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (1963)]]

King, representing the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference|SCLC]], was among the leaders of the "[[Big Six (activists)|Big Six]]" civil rights organizations who were instrumental in the organization of the [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom]], which took place on August 28, 1963. The other leaders and organizations comprising the Big Six were [[Roy Wilkins]] from the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]]; [[Whitney Young]], [[National Urban League]]; [[A. Philip Randolph]], [[Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters]]; [[John Lewis]], [[SNCC]]; and [[James L. Farmer Jr.]], [[Congress of Racial Equality]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience|last1=Gates|first1=Henry Louis|first2=Anthony|last2=Appiah|publisher=Basic Civitas Books|isbn=0-465-00071-1|year=1999|page=[https://archive.org/details/africanaencyclop00appi/page/1251 1251]|url=https://archive.org/details/africanaencyclop00appi/page/1251}}</ref>

[[Bayard Rustin]]'s open homosexuality, support of [[socialism]], and former ties to the [[Communist Party USA]] caused many white and African-American leaders to demand King distance himself from Rustin,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/freedomriders1960000arse |url-access=registration | page=[https://archive.org/details/freedomriders1960000arse/page/62 62] | last=Arsenault|first=Raymond|title=Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice|isbn= 0-19-513674-8| publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2006}}</ref> which King agreed to do.{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=42}} However, he did collaborate in the 1963 March on Washington, for which Rustin was the primary organizer.<ref>{{cite book|pages= [https://archive.org/details/leadersfrom1960s0000unse/page/138 138]–43|first= David|last= De Leon|title= Leaders from the 1960s: A biographical sourcebook of American activism|year=1994|publisher=Greenwood Publishing |isbn= 0-313-27414-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/leadersfrom1960s0000unse|url-access= registration}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| title= African-Americans and the Quest for Civil Rights, 1900–1990| url= https://archive.org/details/africanamericans00cash| url-access= registration| last= Cashman| first= Sean Dennis| page=[https://archive.org/details/africanamericans00cash/page/162 162] | isbn=0-8147-1441-2|publisher=NYU Press|year=1991}}</ref> For King, this role was another which courted controversy, since he was one of the key figures who acceded to the wishes of [[John F. Kennedy|President Kennedy]] in changing the focus of the march.<ref>{{cite book|title=Robert Kennedy and His Times|last=Schlesinger |first= Arthur M. Jr. |page= [https://archive.org/details/robertkennedyhis00arth/page/351 351]| isbn=0-345-28344-9|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Books|orig-year=1978 | year=2002|url=https://archive.org/details/robertkennedyhis00arth/page/351}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/racereformrebell00mara_0/page/74 74]|last=Marable|first=Manning|isbn=0-87805-493-6|year=1991|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|title=Race, Reform, and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction in Black America, 1945–1990|url=https://archive.org/details/racereformrebell00mara_0/page/74}}
</ref> Kennedy initially opposed the march outright, because he was concerned it would negatively impact the drive for passage of [[Civil Rights Act of 1964|civil rights legislation]]. However, the organizers were firm that the march would proceed.<ref>{{cite book| title= Kennedy, Johnson, and the Quest for Justice: The Civil Rights Tapes| last1= Rosenberg| first1= Jonathan| first2= Zachary| last2= Karabell| page= [https://archive.org/details/kennedyjohnsonth00rose/page/130 130]| isbn= 0-393-05122-6| year= 2003| publisher= WW Norton & Co| url= https://archive.org/details/kennedyjohnsonth00rose/page/130}}</ref> With the march going forward, the Kennedys decided it was important to ensure its success. President Kennedy was concerned the turnout would be less than 100,000 and enlisted the aid of additional church leaders and [[Walter Reuther]], president of the [[United Automobile Workers]], to help mobilize demonstrators.<ref>{{cite book|title=Robert Kennedy and His Times|last=Schlesinger |first= Arthur M. Jr. |pages= [https://archive.org/details/robertkennedyhis00arth/page/376 376]| isbn=0-345-28344-9|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Books|orig-year=1978 | year=2002|url=https://archive.org/details/robertkennedyhis00arth/page/376}}</ref>

[[File:The March (1964 film).webm|thumb|''[[The March (1964 film)|The March]]'', a 1964 documentary film produced by the [[United States Information Agency]]. King's speech has been redacted from this video because of the [[I Have a Dream#Copyright dispute|copyright held by King's estate]].]]
The march originally was planned to dramatize the desperate condition of blacks in the southern U.S. and place organizers' concerns and grievances squarely before the seat of power in the nation's capital. Organizers intended to denounce the federal government for its failure to safeguard the civil rights and physical safety of civil rights workers and blacks. The group acquiesced to presidential pressure, and the event ultimately took on a far less strident tone.<ref name=farce>{{cite book | title=Living for Change: An Autobiography| url=https://archive.org/details/livingforchangea00bogg| url-access=limited|last=Boggs|first=Grace Lee|page= [https://archive.org/details/livingforchangea00bogg/page/n145 127]|publisher= U of Minnesota Press|year= 1998 | isbn=0-8166-2955-2}}</ref> As a result, some civil rights activists felt it presented an inaccurate, sanitized pageant of racial harmony; Malcolm X called it the "Farce on Washington", and the Nation of Islam forbade its members from attending.<ref name=farce/><ref>{{cite book|title=Mysteries in History: From Prehistory to the Present|last=Aron|first=Paul|pages=398–399|isbn=1-85109-899-2|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=82zu_Aw5VFgC&pg=PA398|access-date=May 29, 2020|archive-date=January 23, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240123124426/https://books.google.com/books?id=82zu_Aw5VFgC&pg=PA398|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Martin Luther King - March on Washington.jpg|thumb|upright|King gave his most famous speech, "I Have a Dream", before the [[Lincoln Memorial]] during the 1963 [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom]].]]
{{listen
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| title        = I Have a Dream
| description  = 30-second sample from "[[I Have a Dream]]" speech by Martin Luther King Jr. at the [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom]] on August 28, 1963
| filetype     = [[Ogg]]
| image        = none
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The march made specific demands: an end to racial segregation in public schools; meaningful civil rights legislation, including a law prohibiting racial discrimination in employment; protection of civil rights workers from police brutality; a $2 [[minimum wage]] for all workers ({{Inflation|US|2|1963|r=0|fmt=eq}}); and self-government for Washington, D.C., then governed by congressional committee.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Sixties in America|last1=Singleton|first1=Carl|first2=Rowena|last2=Wildin|page= [https://archive.org/details/sixtiesinamerica03sing/page/454 454]|isbn= 0-89356-982-8 |publisher=Salem Press|year=1999|url=https://archive.org/details/sixtiesinamerica03sing/page/454}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Bennett|first=Scott H.|page= 225|year= 2003| publisher =Syracuse University Press|isbn=0-8156-3003-4|title=Radical Pacifism: The War Resisters League and Gandhian Nonviolence in America, 1915–1963}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title= Celebrating the Birthday and Public Holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr|last= Davis|first= Danny|author-link= Danny K. Davis|publisher= Library of Congress|url= http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r110:H16JA7-0046:|journal= Congressional Record|access-date= July 11, 2011|date= January 16, 2007|archive-date = July 28, 2013|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130728081414/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r110:H16JA7-0046:|url-status= live}}</ref> Despite tensions, the march was a resounding success.<ref name="Powers 1997 313">{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/protestpowerchan00roge/page/313 313]|last1=Powers|first1=Roger S.|first2=William B.|last2=Vogele|first3=Christopher |last3=Kruegler|first4=Ronald M.|last4=McCarthy|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=1997|isbn=0-8153-0913-9|title=Protest, power, and change: an encyclopedia of nonviolent action from ACT-UP to Women's Suffrage|url=https://archive.org/details/protestpowerchan00roge/page/313}}</ref> More than a quarter of a million people of diverse ethnicities attended, sprawling from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial onto the [[National Mall]]. At the time, it was the largest gathering of protesters in Washington, D.C.'s history.<ref name="Powers 1997 313"/>

King delivered a 17-minute speech, later known as "[[I Have a Dream]]". In the speech's most famous passage{{snd}}in which he departed from his prepared text, possibly at the prompting of [[Mahalia Jackson]], who shouted behind him, "Tell them about the dream!"<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/aug/21/usa.comment|title=I have a dream|last=Younge|first=Gary|author-link=Gary Younge|date=August 21, 2003|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=January 9, 2013|archive-date=August 27, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130827063459/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/aug/21/usa.comment|url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Dream: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech that Inspired a Nation |last=Hansen |first=Drew |year=2005 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-06-008477-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/dreammartinluthe00hans/page/98 98] |url=https://archive.org/details/dreammartinluthe00hans/page/98}}</ref>{{snd}}King said:<ref>{{cite book |title=The Words of Martin Luther King Jr. |edition=Second |last=King |first=Martin Luther Jr. |author2=King, Coretta Scott |year=2008 |publisher=Newmarket Press |isbn=978-1-55704-815-8 |page=95 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=irMxJS36904C&pg=PA95 |access-date=May 29, 2020 |archive-date=January 23, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240123124316/https://books.google.com/books?id=irMxJS36904C&pg=PA95 |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{poemquote|I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: [[United States Declaration of Independence|"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."]]

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of [[Mississippi]], a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little 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.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with [[George Wallace|its governor]] having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.}}

"I Have a Dream" came to be regarded as one of the finest speeches in the history of American oratory.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dream Assignment |work=Smithsonian |date=August 1, 2003 |access-date=August 27, 2008 |last=Moore |first=Lucinda |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/dream-speech.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130105000547/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/dream-speech.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 5, 2013 }}</ref> The March, and especially King's speech, helped put civil rights at the top of the agenda of reformers and facilitated passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.<ref>{{cite book|first=James T.|last=Patterson|author-link=James T. Patterson (historian)|title=Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945–1974|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=1996|pages=482–85, 542–46<}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Harvard|last=Sitkoff|author-link=Harvard Sitkoff|title=The Struggle for Black Equality|publisher=Hill and Wang|date=2008|pages=152–53}}</ref>
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