http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uXd4RUFwoY

Former mayor of Washington, D.C. Marion Barry explains why the struggle for civil rights is not over and the power of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech.

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Marion Barry: ‘The Struggle Is Not Over’ appeared first on Witnify.

Author: Ben Nussbaum

The March on Washington in 1963 has become identified with Martin Luther King, Jr., who delivered his famous “I have a dream” speech in front of a quarter of a million people gathered on the National Mall.

But as the March was being organized, King was just one piece of the puzzle. The March had 10 chairmen, including King but also representatives from other civil rights and religious groups, as well as the head of the United Automobile Workers (UAW).

Six of the ten chairmen were African American. This group came to be known as the Big Six. In addition to King, it included the leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Urban League, as well as the heads of two new, activist civil rights, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). The man who led the Big Six wasn’t King. It was A. Philip Randolph.

Randolph was a leftist union organizer; he twice ran for office in New York as a socialist. In 1925 he was elected president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, a position he held until 1968. As head of the Sleeping Car Porters, Randolph became one of the best known African Americans in the country.

This raises a couple obvious questions: What are sleeping car porters and why was the head of their union so powerful?

The answer starts with a man named George Pullman, who developed the concept of a luxurious sleeping car that could be attached to existing trains. The Pullman company quickly became a household name; the cars it made were called Pullman cars. The Pullman company was also known for viciously breaking a bitter, protracted strike in 1894. That strike grew to involve 250,000 workers across the country. Thirty-four strikers were killed in the violence spawned by the strike, and it remains a defining moment in the history of American labor unions.

The Pullman Company continued to grow after breaking the strike. By 1925, 12,000 porters were employed by Pullman. These porters, who attended to the needs of the customers in the Pullman cars, formed the membership of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. They were all men. And they were all black.

Being a porter was glamorous. The job paid well. On account of their travel and contact with other porters, the Pullman men became an important pathway of information among African Americans. In an era when African Americans had few jobs opportunities, the Pullman porters were stars.

So when the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters actually succeeded in signing a collective bargaining agreement with the Pullman Company in 1937, it was major event both because of Pullman’s famous strike-breaking history and the prominence the porters had in the African American community. The collective bargaining agreement launched the porters’ president, A. Philip Randolph, to fame.

By the time of the March on Washington in 1963, the railroads had already lost much of their power and the membership in Randolph’s union had dwindled. But it’s a testimony to the power of the porters that the man who led the March still proudly identified himself, first and foremost, as their president.

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[Blog] A. Philip Randolph & the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOUwx-Uau4s

Professor Clayborne Carson recalls how he traveled to the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on a crowded bus full of other young people from the Midwest to Washington, D.C.: “Everyone was really excited.” He recalls how he traveled to the march without much money and an elderly man, who seemed to infer this about him, came up to him and just handed him 20 dollars. The March was held on August 28, 1963.

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Clayborne Carson on Busing to the March appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP9V8vFQyf4

Frank Smith, former member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), discusses the groups of young people that organized the March and the other civil rights protests: “We had more people in the field than anybody…”

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Frank Smith on SNCC’s Work in the Civil Rights Movement appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyNmu2MijEw

Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul and Mary, discusses how the March on Washington was a prelude to today’s movements for change. Ideas like immigration reform, environmental protection, and Occupy Wall Street owe their formation to the March.

The post Peter Yarrow
Peter Yarrow: ‘Ordinary People Saying I Have a Place in This Country’ appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze-prrL_Ve8

American activist and civil servant Joyce Ladner discusses her background in civil rights and describes how the African-American generation before her viewed their status in society and how that propelled her to fight for equality.

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‘We Had a Right to Demand Equal Treatment’ appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oN3ZEg-YlA

Joyce Ladner recalls what it was like to work with March on Washington organizer Bayard Rustin, an leader in both the civil rights movement and the gay rights movement.

The post Bayard Rustin
Joyce Ladner: ‘Bayard Rustin Was an Extraordinary Teacher’ appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9oW3b-JIpI

Clarence Jones talks about how the size of the audience and the setting being at the symbolic Lincoln memorial in Washington, D.C. influenced Martin Luther King Jr.’s delivery of the “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington.

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Clarence Jones on the Influence of the Audience on MLK appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PONzVvhO95Y

Clarence Jones discusses how Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech had to persuade Americans to get on board with civil rights: “The only way you’re going to make a historical breakthrough is when you got a majority of the 88 percent of the population–a majority of white people–came to understand that it was in their self interest that we be free.”

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Clarence Jones on the Collective Power of the Civil Rights Movement appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AffK4lqfCN4

Congressman Emanuel Cleaver recalls the morning of the March on Washington when Martin Luther King, Jr.’s staff teased him about the size of the crowd being only 25,000 attendees. When King was told the truth that there were more like 250,000 people, he exploded with “enthusiasm and joy.”

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Emanuel Cleaver on the March: ‘There Are 250,000 People Out There’ appeared first on Witnify.