58 years after the March on Washington, this is our moment

No matter how I find myself moving through history — whether crawling, walking, jogging or sprinting — I have come to understand that America’s leaders do not necessarily create movements. In fact, it’s just the opposite. Movements create leaders.

From icons such as Thurgood Marshall, Septima Clark and Martin Luther King Jr. to Sarah Mae Flemming, Dion Diamond and countless others whose sacrifices have gone unsung and unremembered in many history books, the civil rights movement gave birth to many leaders and created so many pivotal moments that it’s impossible to recount them all. Yet, large and small, these moments continue to shape who we are, and who we hope to be one day on that “path to perfection.” 

Take one of those moments — an August day in 1963 — and we can’t help but see that, although it began simply enough, it became a moment that continues to ripple through American life. Now, as we reflect upon that moment on its 58th anniversary, it’s impossible to deny that the first March on Washington perfectly fits that frame of one that continues to shape our history. 

Organized by A. Phillip Randolph and Bayard Rustin under the banner of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the resulting political rally on Aug. 28, 1963 was one of the largest gatherings for human rights in United States history. It looms so large as a mile marker and touchstone for everything we are and can be as Americans that it feels inevitable … but it wasn’t.

From personal attacks designed to derail the event to the natural challenges of organizing a rally of its size — more than 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to advocate for the passage of the Civil Rights Act — countless details had to come together to create the moment we now remember. 

Imagine if the costly public address system simply hadn’t worked. Imagine if just one of the 5,000 or so police officers and National Guard members assigned to the March had reacted violently to any of those in attendance. Imagine that Edwards v. South Carolina, the landmark 1963 Supreme Court decision that paved the way for demonstrations such as this, had gone the other way.

Organizers had estimated 90,000 attendees, based on bus charters, but nearly three times as many people joined the effort.

John Lewis was revising and rewriting his speech up until the moment he gave it. Dr. King put his prepared remarks aside and began improvising his speech about halfway through, speaking for 16 minutes instead of his initial four-minute allotment. The result was his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech.

Any one of these details could have spelled catastrophe, but didn’t. Moments like this — movements like this — create leaders, and in 1963, those leaders rose to the occasion.

What does that have to do with today? I believe we’re in one of those moments right now.

From the surging pandemic to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, we’re in a moment that can change our trajectory as a nation. But crisis breeds opportunity and we don’t have to drive our nation off the cliff with division and hate. We can step up with a vision that challenges us to not give in to the lesser demons of our nature, but to rise to its “better angels.”

So, when I look back to that initial March on Washington, I see those thousands of faces yearning for change in America. And I see our faces reflected in their expressions. This year’s March will be a call for voting rights protections. This is our moment; this can be our movement. It’s up to us to lead.

Antjuan Seawright is a Democratic political strategist, founder and CEO of Blueprint Strategy LLC, a CBS News political contributor, and a senior visiting fellow at Third Way. Follow him on Twitter @antjuansea.