“Let us notseek tosatisfy ourthirst forfreedom bydrinkingfrom the cupof bitternessand hatred.”Martin LutherKing JrMartin Luther King press conference / [MST]." Original black and white negative by Marion S. Trikosko. Taken August 26th, 196458 INSIDE HISTORY
CIVIL RIGHTSThe conflicting attitudes hit a pinnacle with the Birminghamcampaign and riots of 1963. The Southern ChristianLeadership Conference organised a peaceful campaign tochallenge the racial divide within the city and it resulted inan extremely violent outcome. In response to the campaign,the Ku Klux Klan bombed the temporary residence of theSCLC President, Martin Luther King Jr., and organisers of thecampaign.Martin Luther King Jr. understood that for races to coexist,equally in America, there needed to be systematic change.Change could not be achieved in the presence of the futileattitudes that suffocated society. There needed to be amove towards civil rights legislation, training programs forthe unemployed, the enforcement of the 14th Amendment,and an end to school segregation. In turn, freedom for blackAmericans.Following President John F. Kennedy’s civil rights address,march organisers stepped into action to ensure the CivilRights Act would be pushed through. The March onWashington gained an incredible amount of support andwas the largest protest to take place in Americanhistory. The march was able to achieve so much supportdue to the organisation of the Big Ten: Asa Philip Randolf,Martin Luther King Jr., Roy Wilkins, James Farmer, WhitneyYoung, John Lewis, Walter Reuther, Eugene Carson Blake,Mathew Ahmann and Joachim Prinz. This march was thefirst to welcome both black and white supporters, to createa powerful, inspiring image that would spark change.Although the organisers differed in their opinions regardingthe message of the march, they stood unified in their viewson the Civil Rights Act.A variety of speakers took the stage, including Martin LutherKing Jr., Roy Wilkins, Daisy Bates and more. King’s iconic Ihave a dream speech was the last one of the day andoutlined the many worries facing black Americans, alongsidetheir aspirations: “I have a dream that my four little childrenwill one day live in a nation where they will not be judged bythe color of their skin but by the content of their character.”The peaceful march was extremely significant in gainingsupport for the Civil Rights Act and drawing attention to theinequality present in American society. This peacefulapproach was not admired by all, and activists such asMalcolm X exhibited an alternative take on the movement.He openly mocked the march by titling it the ‘Farce onWashington’. Malcolm X believed in a more confrontationalapproach to the civil rights movement. To him, the marchsymbolised order and restriction, which did not fit in to thisrevolutionary way of thinking. He claimed the March onWashington was simply “another example of how much thiscountry goes in for the surface glossing over”.Despite the clear divisions within the movement, the marchachieved its objective as the Civil Rights Act was establishedby President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. The March onWashington was incredibly successful, as it not only workedto prohibit discrimination, but inspired people to considerthe racial attitudes exhibited within society. By makingpeople present in this fight for equality, they were able toimplement impactful change. This period of protest fuelledthe civil rights movement, and we are confronted with anuncomfortable question: Would the March on Washingtonhave been successful, if it had taken place a decade earlier?View of the huge crowd from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument, during the March on WashingtonINSIDE HISTORY 59
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