Pittsburgh civil rights leader captured rare color video of March on Washington 60 years ago
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Monday marks 60 years since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered one of the most iconic speeches in history, the "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington.
A number of Pittsburghers traveled to Washington for the historic day in 1963, including Bishop Charles H. Foggie, the local leader of the NAACP at the time.
He brought back rare color video and his daughter shared some of that with us. It's only about two minutes of footage.
"He might have gotten it in anticipation of this march, but definitely wanted to make sure he captured it not just in still photography," said his daughter, Charlene Foggie-Barnett.
But it's rare video of the 1963 March on Washington in color. It was taken by Bishop Charles H. Foggie, at the time, a Pittsburgh civil rights leader and the pastor of Wesley Center AME Zion Church in the Hill District.
"He had been NAACP president, Pittsburgh chapter. And of course, he met Dr. King and all the national leaders here in the city and other cities. But he became very involved with SNIC and Southern Christian Leadership Conference."
Charlene Foggie-Barnett is his daughter. She says the color video was among some other footage her father captured.
"You know there's these photos of my grandparents and our family doing things and then all of a sudden this pops up in this disc that my husband was able to make for me of our family films," she said.
"It was a cohesive crowd: White, Black and others mixed in, getting along. There was no pushing and shoving. And this footage is fairly close to the front of the event, so it wasn't out of control. It seemed peaceful, it seemed poignant."
"You kind of feel like you're standing in the middle with Pop. You're standing next to him, seeing what he saw, you know."
As a child, she says she remembers Martin Luther King visiting Pittsburgh -- even visiting her home. And she remembers her father marveling at the eloquence of Dr. King and being able to say he was there.
"We see the same footage so many times, when you see it on a movie camera, home movie camera, it's very different. So yeah, I'm glad Pop caught it."