MARCH ON WASHINGTON

August 28, 1963

Civil rights activists attending the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom carried signs calling for equal rights, integrated schools, decent housing, and an end to bias.

The March, also simply referred to as March on Washington, was held in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963 in advocacy of civil and economic rights for African Americans. Of the 250,000 attendees, 75-80% were African American. At the march, final speaker Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech in which he called for an end to racism. The march is credited with helping to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Photo credit: Warren K. Leffler, from the Library of Congress