Activists share memories of attending March on Washington on August 28, 1963
BALTIMORE - Monday marked 60 years since the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic "I Have a Dream" speech.
That day, many people from Maryland, of all races and creeds, went to Washington D.C., and witnessed history in the making.
WJZ anchor Vic Carter met up with two men who were there that day as they shared their memories of August 28, 1963.
Dr. King's speech was the culmination of a long journey for those who traveled by car and rail, planes, and even on foot, from across the country.
Among those there in the crowd, were two young Baltimore men who had worked for years for Civil Rights in our city even before the March on Washington.
Professor Larry Gibson and Rev. Douglass Sands had participated in sit-ins at lunch counters, restaurants and movie theaters in Baltimore where Blacks were denied service.
In fact, before the March on Washington, 400 young Black Baltimore women packed the jails and refused to leave.
Their bold demonstration and sacrifice led to the desegregation of a movie theater. Dr. King was aware of their actions chronicled in this display in the student center at Morgan State University.
Gibson and Sands had to be in Washington D.C. on that August day six decades ago.
"What I remember is walking along with a group of mainly union leaders, the immediate vicinity about 50 percent Black and white," Gibson said. "That was a surprise to me. And I'm getting up at the Lincoln Memorial. That's where the stage was set."
"Being in the presence and being able to see so many of the people who had become aligned with, and associated with the movement, it was a day of great joy and hopefulness, new hopefulness awakened for all of us involved in the Civil Rights movement," Sands added.
Vic Carter asked, "When you looked into the eyes of the people who were there, what did you see in them?"
"I saw some of those people I think changed," Sands said. "I think people that we have a group of people in our society today, who 60 years ago, came to a change of heart during that particular meeting we had in Washington D.C.
It has been 60 years since the March on Washington occurred.
Many generations will never have even experienced the time or motion, or emotion, or have any knowledge of exactly what transpired or what America was going through.
"How do we preserve the image and the sounds and the meaning behind what took place that day?" Carter asked.
"There is a good historical record that is accessible to people," Sands said. "It may not carry with him the same depth of feeling that those of us who were directly involved in the movement at that time had come along at this time of contrast. Also, I believe that many more present generations who are growing up trying to find much more evidence about how it happened, what it was like."
The speakers there ranged from actors and entertainers to a young John Lewis to Dr. King himself.
Full disclosure, Professor Gibson left the site early and went back to campus at Howard University and missed Dr. King's speech.
"I listened to some of the early speeches and John said his speech and then a few more speeches i knew were coming, but I went on, though, I went back up to the campus of Howard University," Gibson said.
"So, you left before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke?" Carter asked.
"That's right. I did not hear the "I Have a Dream Speech" in person," Gibson said. "Although, I was at the bottom in Washington. I mean, no one had told me that the man was going to give the most famous Civil Rights and speech in history of America. I would have stayed a little longer."
"Do you regret missing that speech?" Carter asked.
"Of course. I mean, sometimes I give people the whole story," Gibson said. "Yes, I was at the March on Washington. And sometimes I fess up, yeah, I was there, I marched but I didn't hear the speech in person."
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