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Planning for the now legendary March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom of August 28, 1963 began the previous year. African American organizations such as the the Negro American Labor Council (NALC), Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) began preparations for a large scale march for political and economic justice. By the summer 1963 the list of participating and sponsoring organizations expanded to include the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Urban League, the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in America, the United Auto Workers (UAW), and others.

The stated goals of the protest included:

• a comprehensive civil rights bill" that would do away with segregated public accommodations
• "protection of the right to vote"
• mechanisms for seeking redress of violations of constitutional rights
• "desegregation of all public schools in 1963"
• a massive federal works program "to train and place unemployed workers"
• and "a Federal Fair Employment Practices Act barring discrimination in all employment."

After the march, King and other civil rights leaders met with President Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House, where they discussed the need for bipartisan support of civil rights legislation. Though they were passed after Kennedy's death, the provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 reflect the demands of the march.

Learn more about the March on Washington and the Civil Rights Movement at your Milwaukee Public Library. Join us tomorrow for a special blog post featuring Dr. Martin Luther King's stirring "I Have a Dream" speech.