Today we celebrate the birthday of civil rights legend Martin Luther King. Usually, I post a speech by Mr. King but this post will be about the organization of the March for Jobs and Freedom in which Mr. King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech. While MLK was the face of the march it took an amazing amount of organization to make that event so successful. The primary organizer was another civil rights legend named Bayard Rustin. NPR tells the story of the how the march happened in this podcast Remembering Bayard Rustin: The man behind the march on Washington.
Bayard served as a mentor to Mr. King and was pivotal in the development of his non-violent strategy.
The UAW was also instrumental in the march as Walter Reuther was a speaker and the UAW helped pay for the sound system that carried the historic speech my Martin Luther King.
(free image via pixabay.com)
