black history month

1963 March on Washington

The 1963 march was the brainchild of civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph, the legendary president of the International Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first black labor union in the United States.

After President Kennedy submitted a comprehensive civil rights bill to Congress in June 1963, Randolph, King and other civil rights leaders agreed in July that a march was necessary to build support for the bill and other needed reforms. Kennedy at first opposed the march, fearing violence, but later embraced it.

The march took place two months later on August 28. "Freedom trains," and "freedom buses," brought more than 250,000 people to Washington from all parts of the United States. In addition to civil rights leaders and U.S. Senators and Representatives, major celebrities attended the event, including Jackie Robinson (who had broken the race barrier in major league baseball 16 years earlier), James Baldwin, Burt Lancaster, Paul Newman, Marlon Brando, Sidney Poitier, Lena Horne, Harry Belafonte, Charlton Heston, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and Josephine Baker (who flew in from Paris).

Related article: Rally Held To Commemorate 40th Anniversary of March on Washington