Thousands converge on National Mall to mark the March on Washington's 60th anniversary (2024)

I have *** dream. August 28 2, 23 marks 60 years since the march in Washington for jobs and freedom to commemorate the anniversary. We take *** look at all the work that women did to make the March and that iconic speech possible. This is clarified, the movement did not have happened without black women. Women were highly active throughout the civil rights movement, both in leadership roles and as the foot soldiers of the movement. Unfortunately, many of their names have been disregarded or pushed aside when we look at the Marshall Washington. One of the important figures that I focus on in my research is Dr Dorothy Irene Height at the time. She's the president of what we know now is the National Council of Negro Women. She is very involved behind the scenes. When we talk about the big six the civil rights leaders, her name is often left out of the conversation, but in fact, she was ***, *** critical voice during the civil rights movement with its headquarters in Washington DC. The NCMW served as *** meeting ground in the preparation for the march. Martin Luther King Junior's. I have *** dream speech became the iconic moment of the march in Washington where *** crowd of more than 250,000 people had gathered from across the country for one of the biggest human rights rallies in history. But the march was made possible by organizers like Dorothy who stood just feet away from king while he spoke to his legendary words. The NCNW was also one of the fundraisers for the event. So they are raising money behind the scenes. They are rallying up black women, inviting them, encouraging them to come to Washington DC to be *** part of this historic moment. Another important figure in organizing the march was Anna Arnold Hegeman. She served as the only woman on the administrative committee for the March. She was associated with the National Council of Churches and in her work, she recruited over 40,000 Protestants to attend the March, even without leadership roles. Women kept showing up in many other ways, black women, especially women of the church, they are cooking, they're selling dinners, they're, you know, providing whatever it is that they can provide, be it, making sure that Doctor King where some of the male leaders have lunch when they come in or making sure that people's transportation is taken care of. And ultimately, it was *** heartbreaking tragedy and one woman's incredible strength that castle the movement and led to the march, the march on Washington itself. It happens on an anniversary of one of the more galvanizing moments in the civil rights era. And it's eight years after the murder of Lewis Till, while his death is so significant, it was the courage of his mother to have her son's casket reopened and to show *** generation of Americans that we can no longer accept this. On August 28th, the March rolls around and hundreds of thousands of people descend on Washington. The program has *** host of impressive speakers but only one woman. If you look at the runoff show for the March on Washington, you see very few names. The one woman featured Merli Evers, widow of activist Medgar Evers, unfortunately misses the event in *** travel delay. This leaves *** gap which is filled by Daisy Bates. If briefly, Daisy Bates specifically, who was one of the co chairs of the Arkansas NAACP who pushed forward the Little Rock nine and the integration of the schools. She only was given the opportunity to speak. It's less than 200 words, very, very small address. And so when we look at that platform, we see *** lot of men who are there on the platform speaking, this is Mrs Lena Horne, you know, she was there, Rosa Parks, the godmother of the modern civil rights movement was there and only gave brief hellos before they were escorted off from the podium. These were women who really shouldn't have given the been given the opportunity to speak and and were not one woman, there has one of the most profound impacts on the day and subsequent history, famed gospel singer, Mrs Mahalia Jackson, who was in the audience at the time of Dr King's, I have *** dream speech. She sang uh several tunes and she was there to Doctor King's left when he was midway in his speech. And she just goes, she says, tell him about the dream. Doctor, tell him about the dream Warrant. This legend of this speech that he'd had uh where 250,000 Americans heard and talk about this dream. The lack of representation of female speakers spoke to the time according to both Professor Preston and Mr Jones. So women were always unfortunately pushed into this background role. And I think that was because of the era of the times and what they felt that women were supposed to do. And I see the same thing with black women throughout these different movements, considering other people and just making sure that the job gets done. And so when the march ends, everyone is told everybody needed to leave DC. But NC and Debbie ended up hosting *** conference, they host *** conference called after the March. Well, to discuss what went well, what could be better and most importantly, how to keep the energy going. One of the major speakers at the conference polly Murray, who was ***, *** lawyer, an activist, *** minister. She also addresses the fact that women were not speakers at the march on Washington. So they are talking about, you know, how do we also not only combat racism but how do we combat sexism within the movement? And it's really them resisting this idea that they don't have *** voice. The spirit of this activism has endured till this day and more frequently, women are at the forefront of modern civil rights movements, all of these different organizations that are creating change, black women are involved in them. Think about the Me Too Movement and how it has been largely whitewashed that was created by Tarana Burke, *** Black woman. The Black Lives Matter Movement was also founded by black women. Some of these women activists today who are doing that same fight as their ancestors were previous generations. You know, I like to think that they were influenced by these women who did not get the type of recognition and acknowledgement that they deserve. There are countless women who some who are named in history books and many who are not named in history books who supported and made sure that things happened and for them, you know, we are incredibly grateful. Da Ba Mary mcleod, that's Rosa Park, Doctor Dorothy Irene High Ella Baker to Span or K Merli Evers or N Johnson Reagan Constance Baker, Matre of Kathleen Peter of Biola, the user