lincoln memorial, peter alexander standing by along the march route. what do you have, sir? craig, sorry about that. moving around as we try to get a place to talk and i want to introduce you to one of the people from the event today. you can see the march passed and there is still history walking by everywhere you turn today. debra miles was in the front row on that day, august 28th, 1963. this if you can, debra, this is what? this is the pennant and commemorates the important day and i am wearing the approximate infrom that day. your father, a member of the quaker community was able to be here on that day. yes, he was head of the national well, he was part of the national council of churches, and because of his quaker background and role in the national council of churches, we came and we had front row seats and we weren t in the immediate circle. i am curious in a few words what images come to mind as you
underway, so far from over for bob filner. thank you. i have a dream . this week marks a watershed moment for civil rights. thousands are gathering in the nation s capital to remember, reflect and also to call to action. on august 28th, 1963, martin luther king jr. gave his i have a dream speech. are you seeing people gather there yet? reporter: yeah, behind me they are starting different prayers, calls to action as things really start to move forward, just sort of the highlight of the event which happens in a few hours, and we will see a few speakers throughout the morning and then
it wasn t until my cousin, marcia, was browsing through a catalog that had 2009 black history pictures and she saw my picture on the back cover. and it had dr. king s picture, sojourner truth, and it was hard for me to even fathom that this little girl from detroit would be on an historic black history calendar. should we show your sign? sure. this is from the original march on washington more jobs and freedom, august 28th, 1963. this is the banner i proudly held on that day, that s seen in that picture. beautiful. eugene, you know, part of what was so powerful about that day, and you ve written about this, dr. king was able to connect with broader values in terms of jobs, in terms of justice, and sort of economic justice. and it was a message, i think, that resonated beyond just the black community. talk about that a little bit. well, you know, people forget. dr. king, not everyone in the civil rights movement believed
washington this hour to remember a landmark moment in u.s. civil rights. that s the historic march on washington for jobs and freedom. on august 28th, 1963, the reverend martin luther king, jr., urged an end to racism in his famous i have a dream speech, and one woman says she still weeps when she hears the speech. what is the route of the march? reporter: it s from here, over to the lincoln memorial. it s outside the lincoln memorial here, and thousands of people already here this morning, and we have been walking around and speaking to people, and asking them why you decided to come. you came from new jersey. obviously you were not around in 1963, but you have seen the old
god bless you and god bless the naacp. ben jealous of the naacp, addressing the crowd here in washington, d.c., at the 50th anniversary of the march on washington. i m melissa harris-perry. we will continue to bring you speakers throughout the morning as this march continues to get underway. i want to bring in now taylor branch. taylor branch is an historian and historical biographer of martin luther king jr. i would like to chat with him for a moment about this moment. it s so nice to see you and to have you here. i m glad to be here. so talk with me about who dr. king is, in his journey, to who he is becoming on august 28th, 1963. sort of, who is the king that we see on the steps of the lincoln