30 Years Later, Civil Rights Activists March Again

In 1941, labor leader A. Phillip Randolph threatened to organize a massive political rally in Washington to advance the cause of civil rights in America. The White House responded by issuing a groundbreaking desegregation order, and the event was called off.

More than two decades later, Randolph carried through on his original threat by organizing the March on Washington. The 1963 event was expected to draw “tens of thousands” of people to the capital, but wound up attracting 250,000. It concluded at the Lincoln Memorial, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. uttered the now-famous words, “I have a dream.”

Civil rights activists and other public policy advocates hope that some of history will repeat itself today, the 30th anniversary of the March on Washington.

Today’s march also will end with a rally and speeches at the Lincoln Memorial.

But organizers of this weekend’s observance concede it will be tough to match the attendance at the original march or a similar crowd that assembled to commemorate the 20th anniversary.

In 1963, participants were “fresh from the front line of struggle in the South,” observed Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), an organizer of the original march and honorary co-chairman of this weekend’s events. There was a “greater sense of urgency” in 1963, he said. Although this year’s event may not have been publicized widely enough to bring out huge crowds, the real problem is that people today have become too complacent, Lewis said.

Dissatisfaction with the policies of the Ronald Reagan Administration helped spur enthusiasm for the 1983 march, said Julian Bond, an organizer of that event who is now a history professor at the University of Virginia. Renewed hope brought on by the end of the conservative Reagan and George Bush administrations may in fact be responsible if this year’s event does not reach previous proportions, he said.

Organizers acknowledge they got a late start in planning the march. They wanted to see first how the Clinton Administration would handle the issues on the marchers’ agenda, according to Walter E. Fauntroy, national director for this year’s march. Only after “paid lobbies were successful in hijacking” the economic stimulus package this spring, he said, work on the march began in earnest.

The 1993 March On Washington--planned by the coalition of 200 organizations as a demonstration for “jobs, justice and peace”--will attempt to promote a wide variety of issues ranging from religious freedom to health care reform and from women’s concerns to matters of the environment and the economy. Organizations participating have endorsed 20 legislative proposals dealing with these issues.

The broad range of issues has sparked some controversy among civil rights activists. By attracting a wider variety of interest groups, march planners hope to gain more attention for each of the issues. But Bond cautioned that lesser issues could end up eclipsing larger ones.

Rev. Imagene Stewart, who participated in the 1963 march, bemoaned the wide range of issues.

“Everybody is out there for a cause,” Stewart said. But “those who really need Dr. King’s message are still going to be out there in the hedges and highways, forgotten about.” Stewart lamented the lack of focus on black issues.