Here's the real story behind Martin Luther King Jr.'s greatest moment
In 1963, Birmingham, Alabama had become the epicenter of racist violence in America. A KKK member bombed a Baptist church, killing four young girls in September. Denise McNair, 11; Carole Robertson, 14; Addie Mae Collins, 14; and Cynthia Wesley, 14; from left, died in the fire.
As a result, Martin Luther King, Jr. turned his focus to the area, organizing many anti-segregation demonstrations there. Police arrested King and his fellow civil rights proponent, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, on April 12, 1963 during a demonstration.
Source: Associated Press
The situation in the South continued to worsen. Below, firefighters in Birmingham turn a high-powered hose on peaceful demonstrators. Bayard Rustin, the march's head organizer, said that credit for mobilizing the march could go to "Bull Connor [Commissioner of Public Safety in Birmingham], his police dogs, and his fire hoses."
Source: Congress of Racial Equality
The assassination of Medgar Evers, the first director of the Mississippi NAACP, on June 12, 1963 also created outrage and sorrow in the black community. Below, his widow, Myrlie Louise Evers, bends down to kiss her deceased husband at a public viewing at a funeral home in Mississippi.
Source: Associated Press
Days later, black demonstrators descended on Washington. Demonstrators marched from the White House to the Department of Justice with few incidents, defying speculations of violence and other negative press. Here, Attorney General Robert Kennedy addresses the crowd with a bullhorn.
Source: Associated Press
Demonstrations around the country began happening with greater fervency and frequency. Here, Alison Turaj continued marching through Gwynn Oak Amusement Park in Baltimore, despite a cut on her forehead. During a peaceful demonstration in July, a mob of angry whites threw rocks at her and others. Yet police arrested more than 100 black and white integrationists that day.
Source: Associated Press
Six of the most prominent black leaders gathered in New York City on July 2 to plan a civil rights march on Washington.
From left: John Lewis, chairman Student Non-Violence Coordinating Committee; Whitney Young national director, Urban League; A. Philip Randolph, president of the Negro American Labor Council; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., president Southern Christian Leadership Conference; James Farmer, Congress of Racial Equality director; and Roy Wilkins, executive secretary, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Source: Associated Press
Bayard Rustin acted as head organizer for the march. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously at the march's 50th anniversary commemoration in 2013. Rustin reportedly came up with the idea of selling buttons to raise funds for the march.
Source: NPR
Rustin set up the march's headquarters in a walk-up apartment in Harlem.
Source: Associated Press
Celebrities also played a crucial role in financing the March on Washington. A. Philip Randolph, right, the director of the March on Washington, shakes hands with actor Paul Newman at a benefit performance at Harlem's Apollo Theater. Stars performed a four-hour, post-midnight show that night that raised $30,000 only four days before the march began.
Source: Associated Press
But the March on Washington owes the most to labor unions. Randolph, shown below in front of the Lincoln Memorial, led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, one the first and largest black labor unions, which provided initial money as well as much of the door-to-door organizing power for the march.
Source: USA Today
On the day of the march, people of all ages and races from across the country made their way to the nation's capital.
Some traveled very far in unconventional ways. Ledger Smith, 27, began his journey from Chicago to Washington on August 17. The professional roller skater, known by his stage name "Rollerman," skated the 685 miles in 10 days to join civil rights demonstrators at the nation's capital on August 28.
Source: The Baltimore Afro-American
Others simply walked, determined to join the march. Members of Congress of Racial Equality, one of the march's sponsors, walked 250 miles to Washington, D.C. They left Brooklyn on August 17.
Source: Associated Press
As protesters began to arrive at the National Mall, thousands of military police — security for "expected" violence at the event — greeted them.
For safety reasons, counter-protesters weren't allowed to march. George Rockwell (shown below smoking a corn cob pipe) tried to gain access to the parade but police denied him a permit. As leader of the Anti-Negro Anti-Jew American Nazi Party, he and his followers showed up without their usual uniforms.
Source: Associated Press
More than 100,000 people were expected to attend the march. Here, workmen install extra telephone poles to uphold general communication at the event.
Source: Associated Press
On the day of the march, participants totaled an estimated 250,000, one of the largest protests in US history.
After marching through downtown Washington, D.C., participants gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to hear King's famous "I Have A Dream" Speech.
The night before the march, one of King's advisers told him, "Don't use the lines about 'I have a dream.' It's trite, it's cliche. You've used it too many times already."
Source: The Guardian
But King didn't listen. His words that day became the most important political speech of the 20th century, according to a study by the University of Wisconsin.
Source: University of Wisconsin
After he spoke, thousands of peaceful, sign-carriers traveled to the Washington Monument to continue their fight for equal rights.
Source: Associated Press
Despite King's notable efforts, America still has a long way to go.
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