Civil rights movement

=== March on Washington, 1963 ===
{{Main|March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom}}
[[File:Bayard Rustin NYWTS 3.jpg|thumb|[[Bayard Rustin]] ''(left)'' and [[Cleveland Robinson]] ''(right)'', organizers of the March, on August 7, 1963]]Randolph and [[Bayard Rustin]] were the chief planners of the [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom]], which they proposed in 1962. In 1963, the Kennedy administration initially opposed the march out of concern it would negatively impact the drive for passage of civil rights legislation. However, Randolph and King 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=978-0-393-05122-3 |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 work to ensure its success. Concerned about the turnout, President Kennedy enlisted the aid of white church leaders and [[Walter Reuther]], president of the [[United Automobile Workers|UAW]], to help mobilize white supporters for the march.<ref>{{cite book |title=Robert Kennedy and His Times |last=Schlesinger |first=Arthur M. Jr. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/robertkennedyhis01schl/page/350 350, 351] |isbn=978-0-618-21928-5 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Books |orig-date=1978 |year=2002 |url=https://archive.org/details/robertkennedyhis01schl/page/350 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/in-march-on-washington-white-activists-were-largely-overlooked-but-strategically-essential/2013/08/25/f2738c2a-eb27-11e2-8023-b7f07811d98e_story.html |title=In March on Washington, white activists were largely overlooked but strategically essential |last=Thompson |first=Krissah |date=August 25, 2013 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=March 24, 2018 |issn=0190-8286 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180320230800/https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/in-march-on-washington-white-activists-were-largely-overlooked-but-strategically-essential/2013/08/25/f2738c2a-eb27-11e2-8023-b7f07811d98e_story.html |archive-date=March 20, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The march was held on August 28, 1963. Unlike the planned 1941 march, for which Randolph included only black-led organizations in the planning, the 1963 march was a collaborative effort of all of the major civil rights organizations, the more progressive wing of the labor movement, and other liberal organizations. The march had six official goals:
* meaningful civil rights laws
* a massive federal works program
* full and fair employment
* decent housing
* the right to vote
* adequate integrated education.
Of these, the march's major focus was on passage of the civil rights law that the Kennedy administration had proposed after the upheavals in Birmingham.

[[File:Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mathew Ahmann in a crowd.) - NARA - 542015 - Restoration.jpg|thumb|Martin Luther King Jr. at a civil rights march on Washington, D.C.]]

National media attention also greatly contributed to the march's national exposure and probable impact. In the essay "The March on Washington and Television News",<ref name="southernspaces.org">{{Cite journal |url=http://southernspaces.org/2004/television-news-and-civil-rights-struggle-views-virginia-and-mississippi |author=William G. Thomas III|title=Television News and the Civil Rights Struggle: The Views in Virginia and Mississippi |journal=Southern Spaces|date=November 3, 2004 |access-date=November 8, 2012|doi=10.18737/M73C7X|doi-access=free}}</ref> historian William Thomas notes: "Over five hundred cameramen, technicians, and correspondents from the major networks were set to cover the event. More cameras would be set up than had filmed the last presidential inauguration. One camera was positioned high in the Washington Monument, to give dramatic vistas of the marchers". By carrying the organizers' speeches and offering their own commentary, television stations framed the way their local audiences saw and understood the event.<ref name="southernspaces.org" />

{{listen
| filename=I Have A Dream sample.ogg
| 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]]
| pos=right
| image=none|upright=1}}

The march was a success, although not without controversy. An estimated 200,000 to 300,000 demonstrators gathered in front of the [[Lincoln Memorial]], where King delivered his famous "[[I Have a Dream]]" speech. While many speakers applauded the Kennedy administration for the efforts it had made toward obtaining new, more effective civil rights legislation protecting the right to vote and outlawing segregation, [[John Lewis]] of [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee|SNCC]] took the administration to task for not doing more to protect southern blacks and civil rights workers under attack in the Deep South.

After the march, King and other civil rights leaders met with President Kennedy at the [[White House]]. While the Kennedy administration appeared sincerely committed to passing the bill, it was not clear that it had enough votes in Congress to do so. However, when [[John F. Kennedy assassination|President Kennedy was assassinated]] on November 22, 1963,<ref name="abbeville" /> the new President [[Lyndon B. Johnson|Lyndon Johnson]] decided to use his influence in [[United States Congress|Congress]] to bring about much of Kennedy's legislative agenda.