we did go to jail, but we got a civil rights act. we got a voting rights act. we got a fair housing act. but we must continue to push. we must continue to work. as the late a. phillip randolph said, the organizer of the march in 1963, we may have come here on different ships, but we are all in the same boat now. so it doesn t matter whether we are black or white, latino, asian-american, or native american, whether we are gay or straight, we are one people, we are one family, we are all living in the same house, not just american house, but the
we were demonstrating and marching, protesting in front of the different stores here in town for the right to be served at the large counters. they used cattle prods, if you know what a cattle prod is, on us here in gaston. i still have burns on spots of my body today where they had stuck those cattle prods to me. the fears of frustration and discord are burning in every city. next week i shall ask the congress of the united states to act, to make a commitment that is not fully made in this century for the proposition that race has no place many american life or law. in 1963 i was 23 years old. i became the chair of the student nonviolence coordinating committee. i was invited to come to washington for a meeting with president kenly. mr. randolph spoke up, the dean
with randolph. mr. randolph came and said, john, we ve come this far together. can you change this? can you delete that? let s stay together. we went back to it is lincoln memorial and on a small typewriter made the changes to his speech. where is the political party that went unnecessary to march it on washington. where is the political party that would make it unnecessary to march in the streets of birmingham some. some people say it was a very fiery speech, but all young folks back then were very, very fiery. was put off of his and registered to vote. during the delivery of the speech, i saw hundreds and thousands of young people standing on the right, and they were cheering.
rights. there were the die-hard opponent racists, and that in the middle there were a mass of well-meaning white people who really didn t care, but if they could be shown that black people were determined, that their cause was just, that they could be won over to the cause of civil rights. negroes want the same things that white citizens possess. hold on, hold on no force under the sun can stand and block and stop this civil rights revolution, which is now underway. there have been demonstrations all through the south. this needed to come to a head. there needed to be a crescendo. and whereas byron was the only human being who probably could have organized the march on washington, a. phillip randolph was the only human being that
we are confronted primarily with a moral issue. it as old as the scriptures and as clear as the american constitution. the heart of the question is, whether all americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities. hours after that speech, after midnight, medger evers was shot and killed in his driveway a few steps from his front doosh. civil rights leaders rallied across the country and pressed for meaningful legislation and they determined a march on washington, something that civil right leader a. phillip randolph, had been talking about for years was the way to go. but the political class in washington felt differently. kennedy told civil rights leaders in a june 22nd meeting that a march could kill the civil rights bill he was now pushing for, saying, quote, we want success in congress. not just a big show at the capitol. some people are looking for an excuse to be against us. the organizers were undeterred,