Why the Anniversary of The March on Washington Matters to Me
If I have to explain the historic significance, you should read a book
The picture above is of a sweaty civil servant and the incredible John Lewis. I’ve shared this image multiple times despite my being a perspiring heap of nerves on a July afternoon, sweat bleeding through my shirt. It’s because John Lewis may be as close as I ever get to divinity. Note: I’m not sure of God, religion, or many of the things that faith requires, but I met John Lewis, so there’s that.
Prior to the photo, I had the fortune of interviewing Rep. Lewis on his historic moment at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, just weeks before the 50th anniversary of the event. The National Park Service (NPS) was working with Organic, a communications firm, to develop a mobile website We Are Still Marching for the anniversary and several of us conducted interviews on the agency’s behalf with as many people as we could. Several of us, Mathew, Brandon, John, and John, spent days and weeks working with the firm to create an amazing experience for the average visitor. In addition to Rep. Lewis, I interviewed Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who was the last person out of the New York offices of the Administrative Committee on the day of the march. She, a native of Washington, DC, shared the feeling of flying over the National Mall, and seeing the throngs of people shoehorned between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. Because she was the last one out, she got to fly, while everyone else drove, rode buses, or took trains.
There was no blueprint for what A. Phillip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, and the rest pulled off, let alone in less than 3 months during a time without instantaneous communications. Years of insinuation and decades of implication ultimately culminated in what occurred in late August. Some 250,000 people organized, traveled, and participated in the largest demonstration of its type at that point. Lewis issued the speech that launched him into the greater public consciousness (the Selma to Montgomery March nearly made him a martyr in 1965). “And then you holler, ‘Be patient.’ How long can we be patient? We want our freedom and we want it now.” Hearing such revered history from the mouths of those involved was a humbling experience.
On the day of the interview, Rep. Lewis looked as cool as if it were an early Spring afternoon in New England. His bodyman stood just off camera, in shirtsleeves. I asked how was it possible that Lewis wasn’t sweating like I was. The dude said Lewis never sweated. When the subject came up with Lewis, he noted he was from Pike County, GA, so the heat didn’t bother him. Out of sight of the camera stood a member of Lewis’ fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma, with his wife waiting for an opportunity to speak with the man. Lewis obliged the request even though he had several other places to be that afternoon.
A month later, the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington took place. I won’t go into all of the details that are needed to make it possible. My former supervisor, someone who was on the Mall the day of the March and the famous Martin Luther King, Jr. speech “Normalcy Never Again,” aka The I Have A Dream Speech, spoke reverently on the day. 50 years later, the NPS shut down portions of Washington to allow people to recreate the moment. It included POTUS Obama, the King Family, and multiple dignitaries. Let’s just say that those of us involved were happy and relieved once the event occurred. Further down the road, We Are Still Marching won awards for the content and the photography that was compiled. Organic was able to secure a domain with all the necessary permissions to host the site for several years past the anniversary. Until the licenses expired, I checked the site regularly.
With today being the 60th anniversary, sharing my significant experiences with the seminal event seemed relevant.