The March

It all started in 1963 when the civil rights movement came to the most segregated city, Birmingham, Alabama. Birmingham has held the name "bombingham" because there is a large use of dynamite. Many people got shot and a boy who got pushed off his bike got castrated. Head police Bull Connor was in favor of segregation and did everything he could to support it. He put many people to jail as a result of protesting against equal rights. He sent Martin Luther King Jr. to jail. When MLK left Birmingham he worked on making the March on Washington not only a southern movement but a national movement. John F. Kennedy became president at this time and MLK stressed that Kennedy had done a lot but not enough. MLK and Randolph decided to go through with their March on Washington and Kennedy passed a bill for it. In July, they had their first meeting in New York to discuss the march. It was decided that the march would take place on August 28th. The president feared that it would cause a lot of anger and conflict and tried to shut It down, but they were reluctant and Kennedy decided to join the march. For 6 days a week 18 hours a day the group would work together to put on the march. Norman Hill, who worked with the march, traveled around the south to encourage citizens to join him in walking in the march. When whites heard about the march, they immediately thought their would be many dangerous riots and a lot of violence. President Kennedy made it known that this was going to be a peaceful march. In case that violence did break out, Kennedy brought troops in to be there in place of violence. On August 27th, 1963, the anticipation was unmeasurable because no one knew that was going to happen the next day at the march. On August 28th there wasn't many people at the beginning of the march but around 7:30 to 8:00 so many people started showing up and they kept coming. By 9;30, 40,000 people were at the start of the march and 100s of buses were still coming. Unfortunately threats of a boycotts started as a result of a speech. By lunch time, over 150,000 people had assembled and later that day it increased to 200,000. Everywhere people looked blacks and whites were together and it made people so happy. John Lewis presented a speech that became one of the most talked about speeches during the march. MLK finally went to the podium and gave his famous I Have A Dream speech. After the march, the leaders met with Kennedy and praised them for what they did. The march changed views of people and want to make the world a better place.