From the Archive

Mississippi native marches on to spread message of equality across the world

WASHINGTON, D.C.—It was a hot August day 50 years ago in Washington, D.C. The sea of people was so thick that the whites, blacks, Asians and Indians holding hands could hardly move. Ambulance sirens sounded, yet the atmosphere was peaceful—and freedom was in the air.

“It was a celebration,” said 76-year-old Marie Davenport, one of the estimated 300,000 people who gathered for the 1963 March on Washington to heed Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic call for civil and economic rights for black Americans.

“We didn’t know what kind of history it would be, but we knew it was something that would never, ever be forgotten. So, we all came—black, white, all people. We held hands together. We sang together. We prayed together. And, we marched together. And, I think, on that day, people felt united. It was a cause this country needed, because it showed people could come together.”