A History of the Civil Rights Movement

FEDERAL LAWS PROTECT CIVIL RIGHTS

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sands of student prisoners. The offi cials promised to racially integrate public places, make sure African American job-seekers got fair treat ment, and continue meeting with African-Americans to address their concerns. A month later, Kennedy gave a televised speech to the nation. He called for federal laws that would ensure all Americans, regardless of color, received equal treatment under the law. MARCH ON WASHINGTON

Fred Shuttlesworth refered to the Birmingham protests in the spring of 1963 as “Project C.” The “C” stood for “confrontation.” The intent was to inspire a violent reac tion from local police that would draw national attention to the problem of segregation. Did You Know?

Later in 1963, civil rights activists began planning a march on the U.S. cap ital, Washington, D.C. They wanted to send a message that African Americans deserved fair treatment. A union leader named A. Phillip Randolph and CORE activist Bayard Rustin organized the event, which was called the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.” On August 28, 1963, more than 250,000 people marched from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. At the steps of the Memorial, they listened to opera star Marian Anderson and gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. They heard several men, representing various civil rights organizations, give speeches. The one that would be best remembered was delivered by King. That day he gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, in which he spoke about his desire for peaceful integration: I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. . . . This will be the day, this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning, “My country ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!”