Martin Luther King Jr. and the March on Washington
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5 CHAPTER ONE Thousands of people packed the National Mall on August 28 1963 The afternoon of August 28 1963 was hot and sticky in Washington DC More than 250,000 people packed the National Mall They filled the area between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial Some people fanned themselves to cool off Others dipped their toes in the waters of the Reflecting Pool I HAVE A DREAM
Civil Rights and the Lincoln Memorial The Lincoln Memorial was built as a tribute to Abraham Lincoln’s belief in freedom for all people regardless of their skin color It became an important site of the civil rights movement In 1939 singer Marian Anderson performed there when she was not allowed to sing at Constitution Hall in Washington DC because she was African American The 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage and 1963 March on Washington were also held at the Lincoln Memorial 6 These people had come to Washington DC from almost every state in the nation They were a mix of cultures ages and religions Some people were African American others were white They were young and old and came from different religious backgrounds All of them had come to take part in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom Leading up to the March One hundred years had passed since President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing some African Americans from slavery However
Even taxis in the South were not equal Some taxis were l i s t e d a s W h i t e O n l y in 1963 African Americans were free but not equal In the South they could not eat at the same lunch counters or go to the same schools as white people All across the country they earned less money than whites in the same jobs African Americans were tired of being treated unfairly In the summer of 1963 they fought back with peaceful protests throughout the South They held sit-ins where they sat at lunch counters that usually would not serve them African Americans refused to ride buses where they were forced to sit in the back 7
