[Sent 29 August 2020 to my wife and our three daughters]
Good evening. Given that yesterday’s March on Washington 2020 aligned with the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom 28 August 1963, I chose to watch a moving documentary last night about the historic protest gathering of 250,000+ in DC from across the country fifty-seven years ago. Today I have worked through various internet resources searching for a more granular understanding of that epic event, which (as the image below indicates) surrounded John Lewis’ and Martin Luther King’s gripping messages with a very carefully organized and choreographed program.
The day’s ‘march’ began mid-morning with the crowd drawn together by notable celebrities and various musicians at the Washington Monument. The crowd then marched down the national mall to/ward the Lincoln Memorial. I now realize that King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech was positioned to be the penultimate point for those present. Before the Civil Rights Movement’s key leaders departed the stage to walk to the White House to meet with President Kennedy, the two principal organizers of the March on Washington – Bayard Rustin and A. Philip Randolph (honored on the cover of the 6 September 1963 issue of Life – see below) – called the crowd to the ultimate point.
[6 September 1963 issue of Life]
Rustin very deliberately announced the eight demands the leaders would shortly present to the president. The crowd shouted enthusiastic approval after each demand.
[Rustin] We demand –
- That we have effective civil rights legislation.
- The withholding of federal funds from all programs in which discrimination exists.
- That segregation be ended in every school district in the year 1963.
- The enforcement of the 14th Amendment, the reducing of congressional representation of states where citizens are disenfranchised.
- An executive order banning all segregation in housing supported by federal funds.
- That every person in this nation – black or white – be given training and work with dignity to defeat unemployment and automation.
- That there be an increase in national minimum wage so that men may live in dignity.
- Ultimately that all of the rights that are given to any citizen be given to black men and men of every minority group.
Randolph then majestically read the march’s pledge to the energized crowd.
[Randolph] “Will you stand? The Pledge -- Standing before the Lincoln Memorial on the 28th of August in the centennial year of Emancipation, I affirm my complete personal commitment to the struggle for jobs and freedom for Americans. To fulfill that commitment, I pledge that I will not relax until victory is won. I pledge that I will join and support all actions undertaken in good faith and in accord with the time-honored democratic tradition of non-violent protest, of peaceful assembly and petition and of redress through the courts and the legislative process. I pledge to carry the message of the march to my friends and my neighbors back home and arouse them to an equal commitment and an equal effort. I will march and I will write letters. I will demonstrate and I will vote. I will work to make sure that my voice and those of my brothers ring clear and determined from every corner of our land. I pledge my heart and my mind and my body unequivocally and without regard to personal sacrifice to the achievement of social peace through social justice. How do you pledge?”
[Crowd Response] “I so pledge.”
Here is a link to a recording of the statements first of Rustin and then of Randolph. I encourage you to listen to these 12:57 minutes and imagine standing with that packed and exhausted crowd.
http://openvault.wgbh.org/
Would we that day have responded – “I so pledge”? What would “I so pledge” have meant then? What does “I so pledge” mean today?
Doug/Dad
