occur. between april 1963 and august 28th, 1963, there are more than 1200 demonstrations that occurred in 36 states, precipitated by the you know, the demonstrations in birmingham, or by the brutal reaction, the conscience of america was shocked and that dr. king knew this, so when he was speaking about the dream, he was calling attention to america to see the moral, the immorality of the contradiction between the way in which 12% of the population is treated, people of color, and the precepts and principals of those who shined in our declaration of independence. that s what the speech was. when he said the dream, of course, if you look at it from a syntax standpoint, he wasn t talking about then august 28th,
legislative efforts to try to change those laws that they are distressed about and at the same time also beginning to think about how to run candidates in the mid-term election to replace and change some of those state legislators who are precisely the people they see as problematic. we have to remember marching is just one part it and that even when we look back on august 28th, 1963, the march on washington is not equivalent to the civil rights movement, it is simply the iconic moment that we celebrate but the civil rights movement is much longer than that. remember edgars was assassinated in his driveway for his efforts around voting rights weeks before the march. earlier four little girls murdered and martyred in their sunday school best just weeks after the march. the march is just one moment. it s not as though people show up on the mall in washington and then everything is fixed. all right. i ll ask you to stand by.
told president kennedy we intended to march on washington to demonstrate the need for equal justice and equal opportunity in america. on august 28th, 1963, the nation s capital was in a state of emergency. thousands of troops surrounded the city. liquor stores were closed. but the march was so orderly, so peaceful. it was filled with dignity and self-respect because we believed in a way of peace, the way of love, the way of nonviolence. people came that day to that march just like they were on their way to a religious
not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. i have a dream today. it became clear that day with it wasn t clear already that change was coming. this was the scene at the national mall on that day, august 28th, 1963. and this was the scene at the mall today. on the 50th anniversary of the march on washington. 50 years since dr. king took the podium with a vision of abraham lincoln looking on from the memorial perch. the king family rang a bell at the mall in unison with bells at more than 300 sites across the country from alabama to alaska at the very hour that dr. king implored the nation to led freedom ring. in washington they say it s a great drizly late summer day, but no way it would stop this crowd from coming out. they listened as president barack obama who s presidency may never have been possible without the sacrifices of dr. king and so many others, as
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. i have a dream today. dr. martin luther king jr. gave the famous i have a dream speech august 28th, 1963, 50 years ago tomorrow. tomorrow night on this program, we will commemorate that anniversary with a very special edition of all in in which we will present that speech here in its entirety. the clip we just saw is so famous you ve probably seen it dozens if not hundreds of times. the full speech is so rarely seen. so having the opportunity to