Organizing History

The broadcast continued with support echoed from all five of the civil rights leaders.

Days before the protest was scheduled, President Kennedy called for a meeting with A. Philip Randolph in an attempt, to call off the March. The President expressed concern for violence and A. Philip Randolph assured President Kennedy that it would be an orderly, peaceful, and nonviolent protest.

Randolph’s vision finally came to fruition. After a lifetime of calls for mass action a Philip Randolph gave the first speech at the March on Washington.

“Hello Americans, we are gathered here, in the largest demonstration, in the history of this nation. Let the nation and the world know the meaning of our numbers. We are not a pressure group. We are not an organization or a group of organizations. We are not a mob. We are the guard of a massive moral revolution for jobs and freedom.”

More than 250,000 people waited with great anticipation for the last speaker. A. Philip Randolph stepped up to the microphone and said,

“At this time, I have the honor to present to you, the moral leader of our nation, a great dedicated man, a philosopher of a nonviolent system of behavior and seeking to bring about social change for the advancement of justice, freedom and human dignity. I have the pleasure to present to you, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”

The March on Washington served not only the purpose that it set out to achieve, but it was a passing down of the mantle from one generation of leaders to the next generation of leaders. Today, the world recognizes the dream that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.