March on Washington 1963

By noellemcnulty

  • Planning of the March

    A. Philip Randolph was planning this march to protest Black soldier's from being excluded from World War 2 jobs and New Deal programs. The day before this Randolph and Franklin D. Roosevelt met and Roosevelt agreed and established the Fair Employment Practice Committee to investigate racial discrimination charges. This made Randolph call off the march

  • Defunding of FEPC

    Congress cut off the funding for the FEPC in the mid 1940's basically right after it was established. It wouldn't be until 20 years later when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was formed and took on the same issues the FEPC dealt with.

  • Brown v Board Anniversary

    About 25,000 people came together at the Lincoln Memorial to acknowledge the third anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. This case was important because it desegregated public schools.

  • Randolph planned another march

    Randolph wanted to plan another mass march in Washington in hope to shine light on the King's decision to organize the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

  • Violence in Alabama

    There were violent attacks on civil rights activists in Brimingham Alabama which was momentum for another mass march.

  • Planning the Big March

    At the same time Randolph was planning the march for jobs, the King and his SCLC was planning one for freedom. Both groups agreed to merge together and have one big protest.

  • Planning the Big March cont.

    In the spring Randolph and Bayard Rustin, Randolph's chief aide, planned that the march would be for fair treatment and equal opportunity for Black Americans. This ,arch would also advocate for the Civil Rights Act.

  • Right Before the March

    John F. Kennedy met with civil rights leaders before the march to let them know he was fearing this event would end in violence. He let the leaders know that he thought the march was coming at the wrong time and that everyone wants success in the Congress, not just a show at the Capitol.

  • The Day of the March

    There were 250,000 at the Lincoln Memorial and more than 3,000 members of the press were covering the event. Randolph had an array of speakers at the march and ended the speeches with why they were doing the march and ti was for total freedom. The last speaker was Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech which was originally supposed to be 4 minutes, but turned into 16.