AMERICA - Can We Honor the Expectations of the 'March on Washington'

"Can America Fulfill the Demands Made by Those Who Marched on Washington?" PBS Newshour 8/30/2013

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour):  Now we wrap up our coverage of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington.

First, longtime civil rights activist Linda Chapin of Orlando, Fla., recalls coming to the Capitol as a 22-year-old.

LINDA CHAPIN, civil rights activist:  It was, as much as anything -- for my group of friends who met up in Washington the day before, it was exciting.  It was passionate.  It was fun, all of those things.

(LAUGHTER)

LINDA CHAPIN:  And we didn't know that it would come together to be one of the largest protests in the history of the United States.

And another thing that interests me greatly is that the organizers didn't all have the same goal.  Some of them were there to support President Kennedy's Civil Rights Act.  Some of them were going there to say, no, we don't support that; it's not strong enough.  Some of them were there to say something different.

And, yet, it all came together in this incredibly symbolic and historic event.

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour):  That was Linda Chapin of Orlando, Fla.  You can find her story and other firsthand accounts at Memories of the March on the PBS Web site Black Culture Connection.

And now Gwen Ifill has the final installment of her series of conversations on the march.