Why We March: The March on Washington and the March for Our Lives

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

As residents in a democracy, all Americans have the right to make their voices heard. It can be difficult, however, to ensure your voice is heard if you are speaking alone. Collective action – action taken together by a group of people with a common objective, is one way to amplify your voice. The First Amendment protects Americans right to assemble with other people and express their views together. The 1963 March on Washington and the 2018 March for Our Lives are two examples we can examine to better understand what collective action is and why people use it. 

​The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom served as a milestone event within the Civil Rights Movement. Organized in just six months, the March was possible because of extensive local organizing and political momentum that had been building since the 1950s. Most famous today as the event where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech, the March was primarily organized by Black labor activists. While the event did aim to bring attention to President John F. Kennedy’s proposed civil rights legislation, participants also marched to highlight the economic issues and unfair labor conditions affecting Black workers. Integration of schools, jobs for all, fair housing, equal rights, and federal legislation against discriminatory actions were all issues addressed by participants and speakers at the event.  

​The seeds for the March were planted in 1941 when A. Phillip Randolph planned a march in Washington that would have called for government action against job discrimination within the booming defense industry. The threat of a large-scale march of Black people, however, was enough to prompt President Franklin D. Roosevelt to issue an executive order prohibiting discrimination in the defense industry. Over the following two decades, Randolph continued his work as a labor activist and the idea of a major march remained on his mind.  

​Early in 1963, A. Philip Randolph sent a telegraph to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. informing him that the Negro American Labor Council (NALC) had begun planning a march to highlight continuing job inequity. At the same time, Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) were planning a march of their own. The groups decided to combine forces and planning began for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Along with the NALC and SCLC, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) also publicly backed the event and helped spread the word.  

​In addition to A. Philip Randolph, two other lesser-known figures played key roles in the March’s success: Bayard Rustin and Dorothy Height.  

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March for Our Lives

​On August 28, 1963, more than 250,000 people from around the nation joined Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and countless other civil rights activists in Washington, D.C. The crowd gathered at the Washington Monument and marched down Constitution and Independence Avenues to their destination in front of the Lincoln Memorial. They carried signs, sang songs, and chanted political slogans as they walked. A wide range of speakers and performers capped off the day during a performance at the Lincoln Memorial.  

​Just as people used the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom to express their concerns for racial and economic justice in 1963, activists expressed their desire for stricter gun laws and their outrage over mass shootings with another march in 2018. The March for Our Lives was held on March 24 following the mass shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018, in Parkland, Florida. During the massacre, the shooter murdered 17 people and injured another 17.  

​Two days after the shooting, student survivors announced their intention to hold an event calling for immediate action to prevent future mass-shootings, including more rigorous gun control. The primary planners of the march were: Alfonso Calderón, Sarah Chadwick, Jaclyn Corin, Matt Deitsch, Ryan Deitsch, Aalayah Eastmond, X González, Lauren Hogg, David Hogg, Cameron Kasky, Alex Wind, and Charlie Mirsky. These and other survivors of the shooting in Parkland also founded Never Again MSD, a political action committee with the goal of legislative reform around gun control. As it became clear that there was wide-spread interest in the march, the student-activists received planning and organizing support from the non-profit Everytown for Gun Safety.  

​At the end of February, organizers filed for a permit to assemble at National Mall on March 24, 2018. There was, reportedly, already a group planning to hold an event on the Mall that day, so organizers shifted the march to Pennsylvania Avenue instead. As they planned the primary event in Washington, the student-organizers called on young people around the nation to organize events in their own hometowns.  

​On March 24, 2018, more than 200,000 people gathered in Washington for the primary March for Our Lives event. Marchers began at the intersection of 12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue and marched up Pennsylvania Avenue to 3rd Street where a stage was set up for the second part of the day’s program. Young people were behind the organization of the event and youth voices continued to be elevated during the day’s program; most of the day’s speakers were high schoolers or younger. The speakers included many of the event’s organizers along with other young activists such as:  ​ 

• ​Yolanda Renee King, the 9-year-old granddaughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

• ​Naomi Wadler, an 11-year-old gun control activist from Virginia who spoke about the need for more attention to be placed on gun-related deaths of Black girls around the nation. 

• ​Matthew Soto, brother of teacher Victoria Soto who was murdered during the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  

• ​Mya Middleton, a student from Chicago represented the non-profit After School Matters, which strives to provide Chicago teens with opportunities to “explore their passions and develop their talents.”  

​​At the same time, over 750 events were held across the US. These events were in all fifty states and 90% of United States voting districts. When combined with the over one hundred international events, there were at least 880 March for Our Lives events held on the same day across the globe. In total, an estimated two million people participated in the March for Our Lives event that day.  

​​Subsequent marches have taken place, as recently as 2022, both in Washington, DC and across the country. Never Again MSD continues to advocate for gun control via social media, a tool they have utilized from the beginning to raise awareness and garner support for their cause. Similarly, 60 years later the fight for jobs and freedom continues today as a new generation of activists champion many of the same causes as the marchers in Washington in 1963.