The March on Washington 1963 civil rights rally explained

Led by a group of key organisers known as the "Big Six". A. Philip Randolph, who had proposed a similar march in 1941 to protest discrimination in wartime industries, was the march’s main leader.

He was joined by other prominent figures, including Dr Martin Luther King Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Roy Wilkins of the NAACP, James Farmer of CORE, John Lewis of SNCC, and Whitney Young of the National Urban League.

Although not formally one of the Big Six, Bayard Rustin was the march’s chief planning organiser.

The seasoned activitst, Rustin, coordinated transportation, security, stage management, and communications for an event that needed to hold a quarter of a million people peacefully.

His role proved particularly controversial because his early involvement with the Young Communist League, as did his openness about being gay, but his exceptional planning skills proved indispensable. 

Through the summer of 1963, support for the march grew in response to a series of violent incidents and ongoing resistance to desegregation in the South.

The 1963 Birmingham campaign, led by King and the SCLC, had drawn national attention to police brutality.

The murder of NAACP organiser Medgar Evers in Mississippi in June had shocked the nation.

Civil rights leaders decided that the time had come to press the Kennedy administration and Congress to take firm action.

Kennedy, however, was initially reluctant because he feared that the protest might end in violence and set back civil rights legislation; he even urged the organisers to cancel or delay it. 

Early in the day on 28 August, buses, trains, and even hired planes brought demonstrators to the capital from across the country.

Many participants wore church clothes and carried handmade signs. They came from northern cities, southern towns, rural communities, and urban neighbourhoods.

Black and white Americans stood side by side, along with prominent religious leaders, union representatives, entertainers, and students.

The marchers assembled at the Washington Monument and walked peacefully along the National Mall to the Lincoln Memorial, where the formal program took place.

To help ensure order, Rustin and the SCLC trained and deployed nearly 2,000 volunteer stewards to manage the vast crowd and assist participants throughout the day. 

The official demands of the march included complete civil rights legislation, the end of racial segregation in public schools, protection against police brutality, a federal works program to eliminate unemployment, and a raise in the federal minimum wage.

Protesters also called for the passage of effective laws to protect the right to vote and to end discrimination in public and private hiring practices.

In total, the march issued ten formal demands. These included demands that ranged from school desegregation and a broadened Fair Labor Standards Act to empowering the Attorney General to initiate legal action when constitutional rights were violated, though no specific deadline was required for these reforms. 

A series of musical performances by Marian Anderson, Joan Baez, Mahalia Jackson, and Bob Dylan were performed to an appreciative crowd.

Jackson sang "How I Got Over," and Dylan performed "Only a Pawn in Their Game," which was a reflection on the assassination of Medgar Evers.

Then, leaders from each major civil rights organisation addressed the audience.

John Lewis, who was only 23 years old at the time, delivered one of the most passionate speeches, though organisers required him to tone down its original version, which had sharply criticised the Kennedy administration's proposed legislation as too weak.

It had included the incendiary line that SNCC would "march through the South, through the heart of Dixie, the way Sherman did... and burn Jim Crow to the ground." 

Dr Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech ended the formal programme. As he stood before the statue of Abraham Lincoln, King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. After he departed from his prepared text, King spoke about a future in which children would be judged by the content of their character rather than the colour of their skin.

His speech struck a chord with the crowd and the wider American public and made the moral message of the Civil Rights Movement clear.

The address quickly became one of the most famous speeches in modern history. 

Throughout the day, there were no arrests or acts of violence. Law enforcement officials and federal authorities, including the National Guard, stayed on alert but were not called into action.

Journalists from across the world reported on the event, and television broadcasts brought the images of peaceful protest into living rooms across America.

An estimated 500 media outlets covered the march and current surveys showed that over 80 percent of Americans had seen or heard about it within a week. 

President John F. Kennedy, who had been initially wary of the march, met with the leaders at the White House afterwards and praised the discipline and dignity of the protest. 

In the months that followed, the march put pressure on lawmakers and helped change public opinion.

Although the Civil Rights Act would not be passed until July 1964, and the Voting Rights Act would follow in August 1965, the March on Washington paved the way for both.

It helped demonstrate the growing national support for civil rights legislation and made the moral case for justice stronger. 

However, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom did not achieve all of its goals, especially regarding economic equality.

Women, too, were notably underrepresented among the day’s speakers, and only Daisy Bates briefly addressed the crowd.

Regardless, the march proved that nonviolent protest, combined with careful planning and the support of wide coalitions, could bring public attention to injustice and push political leaders toward meaningful reform.