On this day in 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. joined by civil rights and labor unions organized the historic March on Washington. The march was officially called the “March for Jobs and Freedom.” Dr. King delivered his historic “I Have a Dream Speech” at the event. Coming on the heels of a number of significant civil rights struggle primarily in the South but also in other parts of the country for voting rights and against segregation, the march helped pass the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. It also laid the basis for the Fair Housing Act. Union leader A Philip Randolf was a key initiator. Bayard Rustin was the principal organizer of the march. The 300,0000 strong demonstration – one of the largest assemblies to amass in Washington – began at the Lincoln Memorial and ended at the U.S. Capitol.
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