The March on Washington

The march on Washington all started in the 19th century in the most racial cities in America, Birmingham Alabama. An equal rights activist in Birmingham named Martin Luther King Jr. would become the leader of the march. One day, Martin Luther King Jr. marched with other black protesters to peacefully protest in the city of Birmingham. Things got out of hand quickly with police brutality with dogs and fire hydrants as well as beatings to African Americans done by everyday policeman. The whole nation was able to see the devastating acts that were carried out that day and were appalled by its nations actions.

After the march on Birmingham, there were many other marches that took place all across the nation to try to end racial segregation. All of these marches ended much like the Birmingham march with police brutality and no real change put in place. This led Martin Luther King Jr. to creating a march on Washington in order to show the government that enough is enough and that change must be implemented. President John F. Kennedy accepted the march but now knew their was no way to ignore racial segregation in the United States.

On August 28th, 1963 the march began in the streets of Washington. People from all walks of life and all across the United States traveled to D.C. because they knew it would be an important event in American history. Thousand of people poured in and more would flow in throughout the rest of the day. By the time Martin Luther king Jr. gave his infamous speech there was well over 150,000 people from all walks of life. This speech as well as many other held that day became some of the important speeches in the civil rights movement. This day left a shocking image in the heads of Americans and showed the nation that change was coming.