The March

With the country's eyes turned toward the past today to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington we thought it only appropriate to turn our own eyes to a few items from the Collection dealing with this historic event. Below you will see scans of an Organizing Manual, a Bus Captain's name tag, and pages from the Lincoln Memorial Program. All of these materials come from the Civil Rights in Brooklyn Collection donated by the recently departed, and sorely missed, Rioghan Kirchner. Because of people like her history was not only made, but also preserved for future generations. We can't thank her enough. Though imperfect effects, these small ephemeral items help bring our shared history closer. We hope you think so too.

The Organizing Manual covers everything from the demands of the marchers to the ideal box lunch for participants: "peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, an apple or other fruit, a brownie or plain cake, and a soft drink." Marchers were warned against bringing perishables like mayonnaise and salads. 

As the sizeable crowd could attest, the March on Washington was a massive organizational undertaking. The Brooklyn CORE contingent alone sent 13 busses to Washington, each one overseen by a name-tagged captain.

Front page of the program from the March. Dr. King follows Rabbi Joachim Prinz and precedes the head of the March, A. Philip Randolph

A list of demands printed in the program, as well as a map of the route.

Also among these items we find a number of photocopied news stories from local and national newspapers covering the March. This image, clipped here but without a source attribution, depicts a number of the Brooklyn CORE members who skipped the comfort of the bus in order to walk 237 miles to Washington only to... walk some more. After over 100 years of struggle and hardship, what were a few more days and a mere 237 miles to these inspiring demonstrators for peace and equality?