August 28 - The March on Washington

50 years ago: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place on August 28, 1963, in the Nation’s Capital, with the Lincoln Memorial as its focal point. Marchers reached at least 300,000 in number, arriving from all over the United States by road, rail and air, especially by bus from eastern U.S. regions. As many as 450 buses originated from New York’s Harlem, and Maryland authorities reported that 100 buses an hour passed through the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel on the morning of the March. In all, more than 2,000 buses, 21 chartered trains, 10 chartered airliners and a sea of automobiles entered the Capital. The high point of the massive gathering was Rev. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, which originally was titled “Normalcy, Never Again.” King’s now-famous peroration, in which he departed from his prepared text and built toward a climactic “Free at last!” was instigated by famed gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson, seated nearby, who called out to King, "Tell them about the dream, Martin! Tell them about the dream!"