On Aug. 28, 1963, more than a quarter million people walked in the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom – the same march that saw Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. give his seminal “I Have a Dream” Speech. Now, 60 years later, the march is being recreated as advocates highlight the fight still ahead for equality.
Led by the Drum Major Institute, the NAACP and the National Action Network (NAN), more than 100 national organizations will march through the streets of the capital on Saturday.
Reminiscent of the first March on Washington 60 years ago, the groups will convene in the shadows of the Lincoln Memorial, where speeches from Martin Luther King III, chairman of the Drum Major Institute, Rev. Al Sharpton and others are expected
Follow our live updates below.
COMING UP: The Switch Up
If you’re not subscribed to the Hill Hill’s race and politics podcast “The Switch Up” with host Cheyanne M. Daniels, what are you waiting for?
A new episode continuing the conversation on the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington will air on Monday, Aug. 28 at noon EDT.
If you want to listen to the last episode, click here,
You can subscribe via Spotify here.
ICYMI: Walk to Freedom Turns 60: Miles to Go
Martin Luther King Jr’s march 60 years ago and “I Have a Dream” speech were seminal moments instrumental in the passage of the watershed Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Where does the fight for equal opportunity and civil rights stand today?
The Hill assembled luminaries, thought leaders and Black trailblazers for a virtual event — moderated by race and politics reporter Cheyanne M. Daniels — exploring the evolution of achieving liberty and justice for all Americans.
Click here to watch.
Rev. Al Sharpton leads crowd in chant
Rev. Al Sharpton leads the crowd in “No Justice, No Peace” chant.
They are now singing for MLK Jr., Coretta Scott King and the entire King family.
Watch the video above.
— Cheyanne M. Daniels
The march continues on
The Rev. Sharpton has concluded his speech and the march has begun, led by the King family.
Martin Luther King III: ‘I’m very concerned about the direction our country is going in’
Arndrea Waters King and Martin Luther King III have taken the stage with their 15-year-old daughter.
“We are here to liberate the soul of the nation, the soul of democracy from those forces who want to have us all go backwards and perish rather than go forward as sisters and brothers,” says Waters King.
“We will never betray those who marched for us, fought for us, lived for us, died for us. We are the children and the grandchildren of their struggles and we will be worthy of their sacrifices.”
Waters King introduced her daughter, 15-year-old Yolanda Renee King. Yolanda is the only granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr.
Yolanda led the crowd in a chant as she highlighted the woes her generation has to face: from the battle over voting rights to the fight to address climate change.
“If I could speak to my grandfather today, I would say I am sorry we still have to be here to rededicate ourselves to finishing your work and ultimately realizing your hidden dream,” Yolanda said.
“Today, racism is still with us. Poverty is still with us. And now gun violence has come for places of worship, our schools and our shopping centers.”
Speaking after his daughter, King also expressed disappointment with how far America still remains from achieving his father’s dream.
“I’m very concerned about the direction our country is going in, and it is because instead of moving forward, it feels as if we are moving backwards,” said King. “Dad would probably say now is the time we must preserve, protect and expand democracy. We must ensure that voting rights is protected for all people. We must ensure that our women and children are treated fairly. We must end gun violence. Then maybe one day we will be a great nation.”
But King closed with a passionate address, his voice rising as he issued a call to action to those gathered.
“You may be asking that question that my father asked back in the late 50s: How long you ask, will it be before we get our freedom? I don’t know — because the moral arc of the universe is long, but bends toward justice. How long? Not long,” King said. “Let’s not give up. Let’s not give in, let’s not give out. We must move forward to make this nation the nation that it ought to be for all of God’s children.”
— Cheyanne M. Daniels
Attorney Ben Crump: we are ‘willing to die’ for Black children
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump took the stage on Saturday surrounded by Black families who have lost loved ones to police violence.
In a passionate address, Crump promised those gathered that as the “Black attorney general” he is willing to fight “until hell freezes over.”
“As your attorney general, I declare now more than ever, that we must be unapologetic defenders of Black life, liberty, and humanity,” Crump said. “Just like they try to ban our Black history, we must tell them without Black history, you would not have American history.”
Just as the fight for justice for the families of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Tyre Nichols and so many others took place, Americans must now fight for Black literature and culture, Crump said.
Black children, Crump concluded, “got to know that we are willing to fight for them and, if need be, we’re willing to die for them in the spirit of Martin Luther King and our ancestors.”
— Cheyanne M. Daniels
Jeffries: we will not rest until we reach the promised land
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) approached the mic at the Lincoln Memorial to cheers and applause Saturday afternoon.
The first Black congressperson to lead a major political party in congress, Jeffries told those gathered that they were gathered to fight racism.
“We’re here today to fight for voting rights. We’re here today to fight for civil rights,” Jeffries said. “We’re here today to fight for reproductive rights. We’re here today to fight for workers’ rights.”
“We’re here today to fight for LGBTQ rights. We’re here today to fight for racial justice,” Horsford added, as the audience waved signs and cheered.”
Jeffries said America is still fighting the same fight from 60 years ago.
Like Horsford, Jeffries lambasted Republican-led efforts to limit the teaching of Black history and LGBTQ rights.
“Sixty years later, America is at a crossroads, an existential struggle between enlightened people and extreme people,” he said. “We’re gonna keep demonstrating. We will not rest until we reach the promised land of liberty and justice for all.“
— Cheyanne M. Daniels
CBC chair invokes late Rep. John Lewis, tells crowd “we refuse to wait” for freedom
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus took the podium, calling out efforts to restrict teaching Black history.
In his remarks, Chairman Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nec.) invoked the late Rep. John Lewis’s (D-Ga.) speech 60 years ago.
“How can we be patient when Republican-led legislatures are hell-bent on suppressing the Black vote and threatening the cornerstones of our democracy?” Horsford said. “When efforts are underway to deny Black history and the very existence of Black lives?
“Today we refuse to wait because Black people are under attack in America. And the attacks against Black people and Blackness are coordinated,” he added. “They’re well funded, and they’re coming from every side. These are the challenges that we face. But we are not victims. And we are by no means powerless to fight back.”
— Cheyanne M. Daniels
Celebs among those at March on Washington event
Actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen was spotted at the March On Washington on Saturday in Washington, D.C.
He is demanding unity for “progress, equality, decency and democracy.”
— Cheyanne M. Daniels
Hogg: ‘Gun violence is a racial justice issue’
In a brief interview with The Hill, Hogg said he was at the event to support the family of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. — who has been a supporter for March for our Lives — and because “gun violence is a racial justice issue.”
“It is one of the leading causes of death for young Black and brown people in the United States.”
Watch the video above.
— Cheyenne M. Daniels and Tiah Shepherd
David Hogg: ‘They tell us to run, we are done running away from this issue’
David Hogg, Parkland shooting survivor and co-founder of March for our Lives, takes the stage to cheers from the crowd.
Speaking on fighting gun violence, he calls for America’s youth to step up and fight.
“We’re going to enter the light and take this head on. They tell us to run, we are done running away from this issue,” Hogg said. “It’s time we start running for office as a federation, not just upon the building behind us, but in places like Lansing and places like Tallahassee and … for City Hall, every level of government matters.”
“And I have news for you. It has been and it still is and always will remain the people that lead — especially the Black and brown women — the movement to end gun violence,” he added.
— Cheyanne M. Daniels
SEE IT: Views from the Lincoln Memorial
The Hill’s Cheyanne M. Daniels and Tiah Shepherd are reporting live from the Washington, D.C. event.
Crowd member: ‘I’m still sad that we have to fight for the same things’
Aaliyah Ervin from Prince George’s county is a member of the Ballroom Community.
Ervin said she came to the March to represent her trans and nonbinary brothers and sisters and to “make sure that we get the rights that we deserve.”
Though today is a moment of history, Ervin said, it is also a bittersweet day.
“Although I’m very happy that the crowd is as big as it is, I’m still sad that we have to fight for the same things that we had to fight for 60 years ago,” Ervin, 21, told The Hill. “Although today is a celebration … it is also a reflection of how we are moving backward. As a society we need to fight against that.”
— Cheyanne M. Daniels
Chants of ‘No justice, no peace’ begin
Rev Charles Williams of the National Action Network takes the podium to lead chants of “no justice no peace!”
“We came back to make it very clear — we don’t want diversity equity and inclusion,” Williams says. “We want our neighborhoods revitalized.”
“What we want is our votes counted! What we want is a competent accountable police in our neighborhoods!”
— Cheyanne M. Daniels.
Crowds gather ahead of 60th anniversary march
Crowds have begun to gather at the Lincoln Memorial where speeches from organizations like the Anti-Defamation League have begun.
Many carry signs that say phrases like “I am the dream” — a calling card to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech said 60 years ago.
— Cheyanne M. Daniels
HBCUs look to use March on Washington anniversary to highlight new threats
Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) taking part in this week’s celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington hope to use the event to highlight the threats to teaching Black history that are percolating across the nation.
The threats take different forms, including new state laws attacking critical race theory, the academic theory that laws and movements are shaped by race and systemic racism, to increasing books bans.
Almost one-third of the nearly 1,500 books banned this year are about race, racism or include characters of color — and four of the most banned books are written by authors of color, according to PEN America.
Read more here.
— Cheyanne M. Daniels, Lexi Lonas and Olafimihan Oshin
Voting rights concerns shadow March on Washington anniversary
Sixty years after the March on Washington, which became a catalyst for landmark voting rights action, advocates are sounding alarms about voter suppression and the rollback of voting rights protections, particularly those affecting Black and minority voters.
In the six decades since protesters descended on the capital to protest inequality and advocate for civil rights, the nation has seen significant suffrage gains for Black and minority voters — including the landmark Voting Rights Act that went into force two years after the March, outlawing literacy tests and other measures states imposed after the Civil War to stop minorities from casting their ballots.
— Jared Gans and Julia Mueller
Views on MLK’s legacy, progress on racial equality differ by race and party: poll
Americans’ views on racial progress and the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. differ greatly based on party and race, a new poll found.
The poll, conducted by the Pew Research Center earlier this month, found that 48 percent of Democratic-leaning voters surveyed said their views on racial equality have been influenced by King’s legacy, while 30 percent of Republican-leaning voters said the same.
Read more here.
— Cheyanne M. Daniels
Restrictive education laws raise concern of how March on Washington will be taught
As the nation commemorates the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, an event that called for freedom and opportunity for Black Americans, controversy around education standards has raised concern about how this historical moment will be taught in schools.
Over the past year, states have passed legislation that limits what aspects of Black history can be taught in schools, from slavery to racism and civil rights. These new laws have left advocates worried over whether the March on Washington will be taught at all.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has been part of the fight for civil rights since he was a teenager, told The Hill that efforts to suppress the learning of Black history is an endeavor to inhibit progress.
Read more here.
— Cheyanne M. Daniels
March on Washington turns 60 with miles to go
The 1963 march helped lead to a host of new laws, including the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The landmark legislation banned segregation in public places and prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
But the fight for those rights was hard won. Despite President Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, Black Americans had been forced to live a life of second-class citizenship for decades. They were also constantly terrorized and brutalized by white Americans.
Read more here.
— Cheyanne M. Daniels