The Civil Rights Act

In the fall of 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected president of the United States. Kennedy won 70 percent of the black vote. He had shown that he would support ending segregation. Kennedy did not make changes quickly, but he did appoint more African Americans to high federal positions than any president before him. Kennedy appointed Thurgood Marshall to be a federal judge.

In June 1963, President Kennedy demanded that Congress pass a strong civil rights bill. In a speech to the nation he asked, “Are we to say to the world—and much more importantly to each other—that this is the land of the free, except for the Negroes?”

To persuade Congress to pass the bill, civil rights leaders A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin organized a huge march on Washington, DC. On August 28, more than 250,000 people—both African Americans and whites—came together in the nation’s capital. Labor unions and religious leaders joined the protest.

It was the largest show of support for the Civil Rights Movement so far. The march ended at the Lincoln Memorial. For three hours, the crowd listened to a lot of speeches. People were getting sleepy and restless when the last speaker, Martin Luther King, Jr., came to the microphone. His famous “I Have a Dream”

Martin Luther King, Jr., smiles and waves at the huge crowd gathered at the March on Washington.