60th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech

Topic
News story

Name

60th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech

Description

"I Have a Dream" is a public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. To commemorate this historic event, on 08/26/2023 a march was organized and the descendants of Dr. King were received at the White House on 08/28/2023

Types

94f5fc0a-3698-4952-863f-d11d4f6d8c13

National Museum of African American History and Culture Recognizes the 60th Anniversary of the March on Washington

Articles

60 Years After “I Have a Dream”: Gary Younge on MLK’s March on Washington & the Fight for Racial Justice

"Racism is still with us": celebration of King’s 1963 speech shadowed by racist attack

Thousands converge on National Mall to mark the March on Washington’s 60th anniversary

Avatar

Background

Women played a vital role in organizing the march but they were mostly excluded from the official program. However women activists like Anna Arnold Hedgeman managed to convince Wilkins to include a female speaker. Only one woman spoke: Daisy Bates, NAACP chapter president and an advisor to the Little Rock Nine. Activist and entertainer Lena Horne yelled a single word into the microphone: “Freedom!”

The March on Washington took place on August 28, 1963, exactly 100 years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The proclamation declared that all enslaved people in the Confederate states were free, but a century later, full freedom had not been achieved for African Americans. The murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in Mississippi in 1955, and the acquittal of his killers, served as reminders of the second-class citizenship that African Americans still faced. Till's death was a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement, which fought for racial equality.

Officially known as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, this demonstration was made possible through the collaborative efforts of civil rights leaders such as Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young, John Lewis, A. Philip Randolph, and King, among others. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Congress of Racial Equality, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) joined forces to address critical political, social and economic issues African Americans experienced at that time, including racial violence, segregated housing and schools, labor exploitation, and unemployment.

Many historians believe that the March on Washington was a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement. The march put pressure on the Kennedy administration to act on civil rights, and it helped to pave the way for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The march also concluded with Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic "I Have a Dream" speech, which is considered one of the most important speeches in American history.

Broader topics

Cover

Date

08

Month

/

28

Day

/

2023

Year

12

:

00

am

Location

Washington, D.C.

Opinion pieces

"I Have a Dream"+ 60: Dr. King would be proud of America’s progress

Questions

Who organized the 2023 March on Washington?

Stakeholders

Reverend Al Sharpton

Martin Luther King III

Yolanda Renee King

Arndrea Waters King

Tags

Topics

Referenced by

What to watch for?

News

Yolanda Renee King

News

Arndrea Waters King

News