Under the baobab: ‘The day unfolded like church.’ Remembering the 1963 March on Washington

A young leader of Black Lives Matter asked me, “How did the leaders get 250,000 people to march in Washington in 1963?” The leaders didn’t. The people did.

Our church group arrived on the overnight train from Chicago. Bernie Sanders was on that train. Inside the station, police and soldiers were lined up shoulder to shoulder. Some had fixed bayonets. Outside the station the street was filled with thousands of people. At that time, it was the largest demonstration ever held in D.C.

There were six leaders of the March: A. Philip Randolph, head of the Brotherhood of the Sleeping Car Porters; James Farmer of the Congress of Racial Equality; the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Roy Wilkins of the NAACP; Whitney Young of the National Urban League; and 23-year-old John Lewis, head of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. They arrived late. We didn’t wait. We walked to the Lincoln Memorial. I found a place to sit on the left edge of the Reflecting Pool. I put my hot, tired feet in the cool water. I sat in the same place for President Obama’s inauguration. We broke out the fried chicken and potato salad.

The big six spoke as well as others: Rabbi Joachim Prinz, president of The American Jewish Congress; Walter Reuther, president of the United Autoworkers Union; Mathew Ahmann, head of the National Catholic Conference. Bayard Rustin, Randolph’s chief assistant, didn’t speak. The organizers thought he might be “gay baited.” Daisy Bates of the Little Rock Nine said a few words. Lena Horne shouted, “Freedom.” She was one of the people Harry Belafonte had brought from Hollywood along with Sidney Poitier, Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Diahann Carroll, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, and Charlton Heston in his pre-NRA days.

Pete Seeger performed. Marian Anderson returned to her place of triumph to sing. Gospel legend Mahalia Jackson sang “How I Got Over.” Joan Baez led the crowds in several verses of “We Shall Overcome” and “Oh Freedom.” Odetta sang “I’m On My Way.” Bob Dylan performed “When the Ship Comes In” and “Only a Pawn in Their Game.” Peter, Paul and Mary sang “If I Had a Hammer” and “Blowin’ in the Wind.” Word got around that W.E.B. Dubois had died the night before. DuBois, the first Black Ph.D from Harvard and founder of the NAACP had been the leading Black intellectual of the first half of the 20th century. Roy Wilkins asked for a moment of silence.

The day unfolded like church. We couldn’t see much but we could hear everything. Rev. King was one of the last speakers. He began in the soft slow cadence of a Black Baptist preacher. Looking at our watches, some of us started thinking of the train ride home. It had been a long day. I learned later, Mahalia Jackson, referring to an earlier speech, said, “Tell them about the dream, Martin.”

“I have a dream,” he continued.

By the end of his speech, those who had been sitting were standing. Those who were standing were soaring.

“With this faith I return to the South. ... Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, we are free at last.” In that moment we did free of bigotry and despair, free of degradation, free of oppression, free of self-doubt. In that moment, institutional racism, which had sprung from the loins of chattel slavery, was revealed for what it was — a stillborn monster which no longer had the power to oppress us.

Sadly, we were not the only ones energized. Two weeks later the KKK planted a bomb in 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Four little girls at Sunday school were killed: Addie Mae Collins, 14; Carol Denise McNair, 11; Carole Robertson, 14; and Cynthia Dionne Wesley, 14. One was actually decapitated in the explosion.

Stay strong, Sisters and Brothers. Keep your minds stayed on freedom.

58th Anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom event

What: The State College community is invited to mark the 58th anniversary of the March on Washington with live music, dramatic performances and other events

When: noon-2 p.m. Saturday

Where: Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza, Fraser Street, State College

Info: The event will be streamed live online via C-NET at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuFlaWgAnno