The March on Washington : Jobs Freedom and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights

Synopsis

Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech was transcendent, a challenge to realize American ideals that still inspires fifty years later. But the very power of that speech has obscured the actual significance of the march and, by extension, the larger civil rights movement. William P. Jones's history restores the march in its full dimension and locates it within the broad history of civil rights.

The quarter-million people thronging the capital on August 28, 1963, demanded "jobs and freedom." King's moral vision was the finale, but the opening speech by A. Philip Randolph, the trade unionist who led the March on Washington movement, was more concrete. There could be no freedom without access to jobs and a decent wage for both blacks and whites. Randolph's call for economic and social reform captured the demands of the long-standing civil rights coalition. Jones's history conveys the enduring significance of the march and the movement.