[August 28th marks the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, one of the single most important events in 20th century American history. So this week I’ll AmericanStudy a handful of contexts for and from that event—not including Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic speech, about which I’ve written a good bit already!]
On how a
1957 march directly foreshadowed 1963, and how it differed.
As part of
my 2021 MLK Day series I
shared a paragraph from my most recent (then forthcoming) book, Of Thee I Sing (2021), where I analyzed
King’s 1957 speech “Give
Us the Ballot” as an example of critical and active patriotism. That speech
was delivered at the 1957 Prayer
Pilgrimage for Freedom march on Washington, so check out that post (the
first hyperlink above) if you would and then come on back here for more on that
1957 event.
Welcome
back! King delivering a potent headlining speech at both the 1957 and 1963 marches
wasn’t a coincidence, and it’s not simply a reflection on his incredible
oratorical gifts (although yes, that too). The 1957 march built on the
planned 1941 one I discussed yesterday (logically enough, as it too was planned
by A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, although this time the amazing
activist and leader Ella
Baker played a central role as well), but it even more directly
foreshadowed 1963: a gathering of tens of thousands
of protesters (the largest civil rights demonstration in American history
to that point) at the Lincoln Memorial, featuring both speeches and
musical performances, culminating in that powerhouse closing speech from King. Of
course the Civil Rights Movement, like any social movement, repeated similar tactics
in multiple moments and settings; and as I mentioned yesterday, Randolph and
company quickly realized the power of marches on Washington (whether just planned
as in 1941 or executed), so it stands to reason they’d keep using that
strategy. But it is nonetheless striking how parallel the 1957 and 1963 marches
were.
Parallel
isn’t identical, however, and I’d highlight two subtle but significant
distinctions between the two marches. One was the central role of a politician,
Democratic Congressman Adam
Clayton Powell Jr. (a minister turned representative from Harlem) in both
planning the 1957 march and delivering another speech.
Like any politician, Powell had to keep politics in mind, and so for example he
asked the march’s planners to do what they could to keep from embarrassing President
Eisenhower (an understandable but still fraught request). Perhaps in
response to that request (although a genuine element of the event to be sure),
the 1957 march was framed not as a social protest but as a
religious occasion, a “Prayer Pilgrimage” as the official name indicated. Compared
to the 1963 march, for example, the musical performances in 1957 leaned more
into spirituals and less into contemporary
folk music (although 1963 certainly featured spirituals as well, as I’ll
discuss later in the week). Both Powell and King were ministers, so this core
religious thread was hardly a surprise—but it did reflect a somewhat distinct
tone from the 1963 march, and helps us consider another layer to such events
and the Civil Rights Movement as a whole.
Next March
context tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What
do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment