March on Washington

    To set the scene, its August 28th, 1963. Tension is in the air because the civil rights era has reached its peak of atrocity. Thousands gather in front of the Lincoln memorial to support the ideas of desegregation in public accommodations. Some important issues that they tackled were segregation in public schools, and unfair treatment of black workers in employment opportunities.  Major leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., A. Phillip Randolph, and Bayard Rustin attend this march to give speeches and show their support for the movement. Randolph started off by saying "when we leave, it will be to carry the civil rights revolution home with us..." which was very true considering the impact of this march.

    This march left a revolutionary effect on the civil rights movement. It sparked interest its many of others to truly fight for justice in the world. This helped other who were fighting realize that they are not alone and would never be alone.

    It was after this march that MLK gave his famous I have a dream speech where he basically talks of how he dreams for black people to be treated the same as the white people. King definitely had no idea how much of an impact his speech would have on the movement overall. Others were inspired by King's dream of one day being 'Free at last!'. 

    The March on Washington is an excellent example of using your First Amendment freedoms to have your voice be heard. The march consisted of several speeches that express every U.S. citizens freedom of speech without government regulation. Also, the individuals in the crowd expressed their freedom of assembly and their freedom of petition by hosting peaceful protests in order to bring attention to ideas that they felt were important. Lastly, the freedom of press was illustrated through the use of news channels and newspapers to show the effect of the march to others and to even convince them to join.

    The effects of the march was that Kennedy approved the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.