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The Washington March (Singles Classic)
Washington, D.C. September 6, 1963
The march from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, a distance of about eight-tenths of a mile, had been scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m. But at least 20 minutes before then, a group of Negroes started strolling away from the Monument grounds on the way to the Memorial. Hundreds, then thousands and tens of thousands, followed. Constitution and Independence Avenues were transformed into oceans of bobbing placards. Some marchers wept as they walked; the faces of many more gleamed with happiness. There were no brass bands. There was little shouting or singing. Instead, for over an hour and a half, there was the sound of thousands of feet shuffling toward the temple erected in the name of Abraham Lincoln.
It was informal, often formless—yet it somehow had great dignity. It had little of the sustained suspense of an astronaut shoot or a national political convention—but it built, despite moments of boredom and restlessness—to an emotion-draining climax. It probably changed few minds that had already been made up; the chances were that integrationists would remain integrationists and segregationists would remain segregationists. It was in the probable effects on the conscience of millions of previously indifferent Americans that the march might find its true meaning. The possibility of riot and bloodshed had always been there; and in the U.S.’s “open society†they would have been plainly visible for the whole world to see. But the marchers took that chance, and the U.S. took it with them.
This story is part of the TIME Classic Coverage Collection from Time Inc. This is a reproduction of a story that appeared in the September 6, 1963 issue of TIME magazine.
Time Inc. is one of the world’s most influential media companies – home to 90 iconic brands like People, Sports Illustrated, Time, InStyle, Real Simple, Food & Wine, and Fortune. The Spotlight Stories in this collection aim to provide you with a quick read on a single subject, highlighting our readers’ most popular stories and featuring great reporting from our Time Inc. journalists.
