By Whanda Boouraca
I had just turned 20 years old one month before, August 28, 1963. It was a turbulent time with sit in’s, protests and deaths all across the South. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was our hero! And hearing about the March on Washington I knew I had to be there.
As a child I had lived in the South, then later in Washington D.C. and experienced the “colored and white water fountains’” I knew first hand what it felt like to feel “less than” because of the color of my skin.
On the day of the March, we drove down to D.C. from Queens, NY where I had moved just two years before. Arriving in D.C. there were hundreds of buses cars and more people than I had ever seen gathered in one place. The atmosphere was friendly and we walked peacefully along the wide Avenues carrying our signs. I felt proud and happy to be there marching alongside people I didn’t know, but people who were there to show the world that it was time for change!
I never got close enough to see Dr King give his speech, but I knew it was a day that I would never forget!!
60 years and 2 generations later my 30 year old granddaughter attended the “60th Anniversary of the March on Washington” and whereas I didn’t get close enough to see and hear Dr King give his famous speech, she stood next to his statue and took pictures as if to say your legacy continues.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. we thank you!
Background
Thousands traveled by road, rail, and air to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, August 28. Marchers from Boston traveled overnight and arrived in Washington at 7am after an eight-hour trip, but others took much longer bus rides from cities such as Milwaukee, Little Rock, and St. Louis. Organizers persuaded New York’s MTA to run extra subway trains after midnight on August 28, and the New York City bus terminal was busy throughout the night with peak crowds. A total of 450 buses left New York City from Harlem. Maryland police reported that “by 8:00 a.m., 100 buses an hour were streaming through the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel.” The United Automobile Workers financed bus transportation for 5,000 of its rank-and-file members, providing the largest single contingent from any organization.
