September 1, 2023: Contextualizing the March on Washington: Speeches

[August 28th marks the60th anniversary of the March onWashington for Jobs and Freedom, one of the single mostimportant events in 20th century American history.So this week I’ll AmericanStudy a handful of contexts for and from thatevent—not including MartinLuther King Jr.’s iconic speech, about which I’ve written agood bit already!]

On threeof the March’s many important orations (again, beyond that most famous one).

1)     John Lewis: As I wrotein Wednesday’s post, John Lewis was only 23 years old in August 1963, but thatdidn’t stop him from delivering the March’s second most powerful speech. He wasapparently stopped by fellow organizers from delivering the speech heoriginally wrote (and which he quoted in full in his memoir Walking with the Wind), which farmore directly criticized the Kennedy administration and featured lines like “Wewill march through the South, through the heart of Dixie, the way Sherman did.We shall pursue our own scorched earth policy and burn Jim Crow to the ground—nonviolently.”(Some fellow SNCC members like StokelyCarmichael wanted Lewis to deliver the full speech and were very frustratedthat he wasn’t able to.) But even the revised speech featured “greatreservations” about the Civil Rights Bill in its current form as well as suchrhetorical bangers as Lewis’ demand to fellow activists that they “Get in andstay in the streets of every city, every village and hamlet of this nationuntil true freedom comes.”

2)     Walter Reuther: UnitedAutomobile Workers President Walter Reuther was one of the white leaders whocame on board when the March’s planning cohort expanded from the Big Six to theBig Ten, and he followed up that role by delivering a stirring speech of hisown. Reuter’s speech included one of my favorite expressions of critical patriotism:“We cannot successfully preachdemocracy in the world unless we first practice democracy at home. Americandemocracy will lack the moral credentials and be both unequal to and unworthyof leading the forces of freedom against the forces of tyranny unless we takebold, affirmative, adequate steps to bridge the moral gap between Americandemocracy's noble promises and its ugly practices in the field of civil rights.”And he delivered it in his trademark fiery oratorical style that, accordingto fellow labor leader Irving Bluestone, led a Black woman in the audiencethat day to call Reuther “the white Martin Luther King.”

3)     Bayard Rustin: The frustratingprejudice toward Rustin (ostensibly as a radical, but mostly as a gay man)about which I wrote on Wednesday was likely responsible for the fact that theMarch’s principal strategist and organizer did not get to deliver a full speechof his own (similarly, JamesBaldwin was denied the chance to speak). But Rustin nonetheless played twovital speaking roles: he readaloud and in full the March’s list of demands to both the federalgovernment and the American people; and he organized and led a tribute to “NegroWomen Fighters for Freedom,” which featured acknowledgments of the work ofDaisy Bates, Diane Nash, Prince Lee, Gloria Richardson (who has since criticized women’srelatively minor roles at the March), and Rosa Parks. Both those women andRustin deserved the chance to speak far more fully than they were able, but weneed to make sure not to replicate that discrimination and instead to highlighttheir vital presence and contributions at this defining Civil Rights Movementmoment.

AugustRecap this weekend,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think?