March on Washington (1963)

march on Washington (1963) To press for passage of the Civil Rights Act (1964), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and National Urban League organized a march on the capital. On 28 August 1963, perhaps 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial, where Martin Luther King gave his “I have a dream” speech. John F. Kennedy did not participate in the march, but met with its leaders at the White House. The march failed to achieve the act’s passage that year, but it was instrumental in building a national consensus against racial discrimination that resulted in its passage a year later.