Posted 4 days ago
Patriotica
(24 items)
It would have been a typical summer day in Washington, DC on August 28, 1983, warm and humid in the 80s, were it not for the gathering of several hundred thousand on the 20th anniversary of the 1963 Freedom March with Martin Luther King, Jr's 'I Have a Dream' speech at the Lincoln Memorial. From the Washington Post that day:
"It was like old home week yesterday for the veterans of the 1963 March on Washington as civil rights leaders, entertainers and politicians gathered for the 20th anniversary of the march, embracing one another, reminiscing and making comparisons between then and now. Like a roll call of names from two decades of headlines--with a few painfully notable absences--the lions of the civil rights movement reunited in a joyful recollection of the original coming together. Among them were organization leaders Coretta Scott King, the Rev. Joseph Lowery, M. Carl Holman, Vernon Jordan and John Lewis; the entertainers, Bill Cosby, Dick Gregory, Sammy Davis Jr. and Harry Belafonte, and politicians and political aspirants Julian Bond, Andrew Young and Jesse Jackson."
Of those listed I would go on to meet personally with Coretta Scott King (at a Democratic event), Jesse Jackson (whose 1984 campaign office was in my building where I worked), Vernon Jordan (conversing with Rep. Debbie Dingell outside a memorabilia store where I helped Mrs. Dingell with her collection of White House Christmas cards) and Bill Cosby (he was coming from the Washington Monument towards me on the day of the March). I would also meet Rep. John Lewis, Rev. Walter Washington and Marion Barry, the latter two former mayors of DC, during my time in Washington, DC Democratic politics, among so many others.
I wandered around The Mall, the Washington Monument and watched so many wade into the Lincoln Reflecting Pool (I'm sure I'm in that last photo about halfway on the left side somewhere) before heading home later that day.
The flag was found on my way out of Washington, DC near Lafayette Square across from the White House sticking up out of a trash can. It still has the original stick attached to it with the yellow ribbon tied to it that says 'Peace Please'. The silk screened doves being released under the words 'Peace March 83' has stood up well after some 54 years.
Such history, such memories, such work that still needs to be done.
