This Saturday marks the 58th anniversary of the March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his celebrated “I Have a Dream” speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial. To honor the occasion, which became a catalyst for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, over 100 organizations will gather on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and in cities across the country to show their support for voting rights and demonstrate against the most recent wave of voter suppression. This year, Republicans, claiming voter fraud, have restricted access to the polls following a historic election turnout in 2020, bolstered by Black and brown communities.
During that first march on August 28, 1963, Black women were not allowed to be at the forefront. In fact, they were forced to stage an entirely separate demonstration from men on Independence Avenue, despite the fact that they played critical roles organizing the day and were mainstays of the larger movement. This included women like Ella Baker, who helped Martin Luther King Jr. form the civil rights organization Southern Christian Leadership Conference and is now known as the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement, and Dorothy Height, another core organizer as president of the National Council of Negro Women. Ultimately, only one woman, Daisy Bates, was allowed to speak that day—she gave the 142-word “Tribute to Negro Women Fighters for Freedom” speech.