Wiki History: Marches 1

Wiki History!

Welcome back to robinlofton.com! This is the place where we are remembering history and the place where we are making it. March is an interesting month: winter melts into spring, schools take a long—and much-needed break and many of us are still on a high from last month’s Black history month celebrations and remembrances. With all the great stories, achievements, and contributions, Black history month is a very hard act to follow. But March does have its strengths. This month, the theme will be marches. You know, when people get out and march, protest and make demands on the government for changes, improvements and justice. I’m talking about that important and powerful form of protest: marching.

Yes, in March, we will discuss marches. We’ll discuss famous marches. We’ll discuss not-so-famous marches. We will also examine why we march. And, during March month—and every month—I would love to hear from you if you’ve ever been involved in a march. What was it like? What were you marching about? What do you think of marching? Was it effective? In short, I want to hear from you about your marching experiences.

I can begin with one of my marching experiences. I was an undergrad at UCLA. During the 1980s (yes, I’m revealing my age bracket here), the United States was one of the last countries to maintain economic ties with South Africa. This was during the time when South Africa was in the grip of apartheid. The Black Students Association (or BSA as it is known by people in the know) organized several large marches on campus to demand that the UC Regents divest our funds from South Africa. We also demanded a full economic boycott against South Africa while it maintained the system of apartheid and while Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and other members of the ANC remained in prison. Today, we know how the story ended: Apartheid was dismantled. South Africa became an isolated symbol of racism throughout the world. And Nelson Mandela was freed from prison and became the first Black African president of South Africa. We know that he was much more than that—his legacy of power, peace, equality, and justice endure today, long after his death. And the other political prisoners were released. Did the Black Student marches accomplish all that? Probably not—at least not alone. But these marches were happening all over the country and I think that we all contributed to dismantling apartheid and making South Africa into a free and democratic country.

The marches at UCLA—all non-violent I should add—were events that brought us together as a community working towards a single and just cause. We felt empowered and strong. We felt unity (remember Umoja (in Swahili) from the first day of Kwanzaa?) and a collective passion to join the struggle with people thousands of miles away who desired equality, justice and freedom. To answer my own questions: Were our marches effective? Absolutely. Would I do it again? I already have! But that’s for another podcast.

Let’s back up and do a bit of housecleaning before we begin part 1 of the marches podcast series.

I hope that you enjoyed the Black History month wiki history podcasts where we answered basic questions about Black History Month: What is it? Who started it and why? And one of the most relevant questions (which also happened to be the most popular podcast of the month): do we still need Black History month? That presented a great question and really made people think about why, with a Black president, we continue to need Black history month. In fact, I remember seeing the hashtag #28daysisnotenough. It really isn’t so I will continue to learn, remember and honor Black history. If you haven’t listened to the Black history month wiki podcasts, please take a bit of time to go back to them. They are not long. Remember that they’re wiki lectures. That means (in the Hawaiian language), that you can learn a lot really fast.

One more thing before I forget and before we start discussing famous marches: robinlofton.com is taking a new name. This website, podcast, and blog will be called rememberinghistory.com. I will still be the host and the front person but the name will change to reflect more closely my real goal. To remember history. To honor history. To learn from and be inspired by history. And, ultimately, to make history. So, rememberinghistory.com. There’s nothing that you need to do. You can go to robinlofton.com where you’ll be forwarded to rememberinghistory.com. Or you can, of course, just visit rememberinghistory.com. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Now for the marches.

I know as I begin this podcast, you might be thinking about the blockbuster historical movie, Selma. That’s great. I love historical movies because they help to bring history to life and remind us of the important events in history—even if they were not so long ago. And Selma, Alabama was the scene of an important march on what has come to be known as Bloody Sunday. It was March 7, 1965.

There were other marches that took place around the same time, lasting for another 18 days. The Turnaround March, for example. This was one of the most famous marches in U.S. history. What was the march about? Voting rights for African Americans. The marchers were demanding the passage of a Voting Rights law that prohibited discrimination in the right and practice of voting. As the bloody Sunday name suggests, this non-violent march ended with police and state troopers attacking the unarmed marchers. Many were injured. Some were killed. This march was effective: President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law just five months later, on August 6, 1965. There is lots more about the Voting Rights Act—it is a fundamental and revolutionary document that is constantly under attack—and I have a wiki history podcast that discusses it called Civil Rights Movement: The Laws & Supreme Court cases. Back to the Selma march, the march was also a response to the killing of Jimmie Lee Jackson by an Alabama State trooper. Mr. Jackson was killed while fleeing violence that had erupted at a voting rights rally. The Selma march was also a response to the killing of Rev. James Reeb by four members of the Ku Klux Klan who objected to Rev. Reeb dining at an integrated restaurant. Well, if you want to know more about the Selma march, I encourage you to see the movie or listen to my podcast called The Civil Rights Movement: Marches and Protests. Actually, you can do both if you like!

One of the most famous and largest marches, not just in U.S. history, but in world history was the March on Washington, which was held on August 28, 1963. Did you know that full name was the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom? Yes, that really tells it all. It was the largest march ever held for economic and social rights for African Americans. 250,000 people attended the march, including 60,000 whites. It was absolutely an integrated (or multicultural in modern lingo) movement—and that was very rare at the time. This is when and where SCLC president Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech.

In fact, there was a long list of speakers including A. Philip Randolph who gave the opening remarks, SNCC Chairman John Lewis (who would be a central figure at the Selma march 2 years later), National Urban League director Whitney Young, and NAACP Executive Secretary Roy Wilkens who led a moment of silence for WEB Dubois had died in Ghana on the previous night. There was also a long list of performers like Mahalia Jackson, Marion Anderson, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. How effective was the March on Washington? That is open to a lot of debate. There was criticism on all sides: Some people, including Malcolm X, thought that the issue and goal of the march were too diluted as a result of multicultural support and conflicting agendas. Some people in the Kennedy Administration felt that the march was too radical and inflammatory because many speakers were questioning the effectiveness of the current civil rights bill. Still, others (particularly white segregationists) were angered that Black people and civil rights issues had been provided with so much power and coverage. Most of the participants felt that the march was an historic and life-changing experience. To me (no I wasn’t there), that historic and life-changing feeling by itself shows that the march was effective and powerful. Following the march, President Kennedy did actually meet with civil rights leaders—that was a huge step on its own—but he had not signed the civil rights bill before his assassination. Eleven months later, his successor Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law.

So, those are two of the most famous marches. There is a lot more to say about them but I encourage you read about them for yourself. Two good books are This is the Day: The March on Washington by Leonard Freed and March from Selma to Montgomery by Michael Uschan (by the way, Michael Uschan has written a lot about African American history and his books are very readable and informative.) If you’re more the visual type, go see Selma if it’s still in the theaters. If not, then a great DVD is Selma, Lord, Selma. And a good DVD about the March on Washington is called The March, which is a documentary with Denzel Washington. I just mention these books and DVDs but you can find them all and others (with reviews) on robinlofton.com and rememberinghistory.com. Look in the store section on Marches. You can’t miss it!

And, while you’re at the website, please give me your comments about the marches, the books, the movies, or anything else that it is on your mind. I love to hear from my listeners. Remember we are part of a community and I definitely believe in freedom of speech and expression. If you actually attended one of these marches—or another march—tell me your experiences, thoughts, and beliefs about the marches.

In the next wiki podcast, we are going to discuss some of the lesser-known marches. These marches are not unknown, but they certainly were not on the scale of the March on Washington or the Selma to Montgomery march in terms of participation and numbers. But you might just find that they were powerful, effective and memorable in their own right. And to make it even more interesting, I am going to focus on a single city for the wiki history podcast on these lesser-known marches. I will not tell you the name of the city but here’s a hint: This city has been described as a “hotbed of radical activism.” That’s a quote. Well, think about it and tune in next time for the name of this “hotbed of radical activism” and the marches that have occurred there. Just to jump ahead, the final podcast in the marches series will discuss why we march and examine the march as an effective tool for change. We will examine specific and modern marches so it will be quite interesting. There is a reason that Gandhi marched and that we continue to march.

Finally, every time someone listens to these podcasts, I will donate $1 to the ASALH, the Association for the Study of African American Life & History. This organization, founded by Carter G. Woodson, is celebrating its centennial anniversary this year and is a great organization that keeps African American history alive, growing and respected. Feel free to visit them at asalh.org.

And feel free to visit robinlofton.com and rememberinghistory.com. Hope that you enjoyed this “march” down memory lane (sorry, but I couldn’t resist that one), I hope to hear your comments and experiences, and I hope that you will join me at the next marches podcast where we are remembering history and we’re making history.

Bye for now!