Meet the activists: Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Courtland Cox, Joyce Ladner and Rachelle Horowitz discuss their experiences planning the March on Washington with Bayard Rustin
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 The March in Washington as an event itself was impressive.
00:05 ♪ Woke up this morning with ♪
00:06 ♪ Woke up this morning with ♪
00:08 ♪ Woke up this morning with ♪
00:09 ♪ Woke up this morning with ♪
00:11 ♪ Woke up this morning with ♪
00:12 ♪ Woke up this morning with ♪
00:14 There had never been a number of people
00:16 that size in Washington.
00:18 We always talk about the numbers and so forth,
00:21 but I think it changed the narrative
00:23 and it changed the dynamic
00:25 about how America began to see the Civil Rights Movement.
00:29 And I think it's really important for that.
00:31 ♪ Ah ♪
00:34 I was on the staff of the March on Washington,
00:37 worked with Bayard Rustin.
00:39 Eleanor, you'll oversee all written documents.
00:42 Well, Bayard Rustin was really the only person in America
00:45 who could have organized that march.
00:48 There had never been a march that large.
00:50 How many bodies did it take to surround the White House?
00:53 How many?
00:54 This was a historical event happening
00:58 and Bayard sort of welcomed us in and said,
01:01 "Come, make history with me."
01:03 You literally want me to try now?
01:05 Yes!
01:06 I was on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial
01:09 and became amazed to see--
01:12 I still have that picture in my mind--
01:15 how so many people came
01:18 that you could not see the end of the people.
01:22 I helped groups charter buses and work on the regulations.
01:26 Rachelle, you'll be in charge of transportation.
01:29 It was amazing, it seems to me, that I did it.
01:33 For 100,000 people? I can't even drive.
01:36 I really felt that here was history in the making.
01:40 [crowd chanting]
01:42 Activism should not be dependent
01:44 on your reacting to something that happened.
01:47 You need to plan.
01:49 Bayard left nothing to chance on that march.
01:53 That is, there's nothing that happened that day
01:55 that he didn't try to organize.
01:58 Norm, how many first-aid stations have been secured?
02:01 22. Water?
02:02 There will be 6 water tanks, 1,500 gallons.
02:04 Lighten, who are the guardians?
02:06 A fraternal order of New York City's Black police.
02:08 And he was very clear to the Washington police
02:12 that their job was to guard the periphery of the march
02:17 to make sure that no Klan people or extremists invaded it.
02:22 And inside the march, and there is a scene in the movie about that,
02:26 we had Black volunteer policemen from New York
02:30 who were to monitor the march.
02:32 It is your responsibility to create an atmosphere of peace.
02:37 God bless you all.
02:39 I am from Mississippi, grew up there.
02:42 You'll travel from city to city, raising funds and spreading the word.
02:46 My job was to recruit people from the South to come to the march.
02:50 August 28th, the Helluva Jackson's gonna sing,
02:53 and freedom's gonna shout!
02:55 What I liked about Bayard was, number one, he was very charismatic.
02:59 Do this, Dr. King. Own your power.
03:03 [laughs]
03:04 The thing that I also loved about him was that
03:07 he treated my views with as much respect as he did Eleanor,
03:12 who was in law school at the time, or Rochelle.
03:15 Or Dr. King's.
03:16 Or Dr. King. He was a great listener.
03:18 Now that's collaboration! Write it on the wall.
03:21 My role in the march in Washington was to serve as the representative
03:28 of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
03:31 Angelic troublemakers such as yourselves,
03:34 with ideas so bold, so inspiring,
03:36 the execution will demand all groups draw tightly together and become one.
03:40 I think the two things that attracted me to Bayard
03:44 was his commitment and being there when we needed him politically,
03:49 and looking at him navigate big political situations and succeed.
03:55 Your facts are correct. Your sense of history is not.
03:58 He really believed in young people,
04:01 and he believed that young people would change the world,
04:04 and he took every young person, as Joyce said, seriously.
04:09 We're not done yet!
04:11 [laughter]
04:12 So you know.
04:13 He always moved us forward to the next demand,
04:16 and he didn't brood on what was bad.
04:19 [music]
04:21 I love the film. It exceeded my expectations,
04:24 and I had high expectations for it.
04:27 Coleman was extraordinary.
04:30 When I heard him speak, I thought I was hearing Bayard Rustin,
04:34 and that's one of the reasons the film is so good and so authentic.
04:38 I am also happy that this movie will be part of history.
04:43 He answered the question that America was asking,
04:47 what do you Negroes want?
04:49 You know, we want to be all the things that America says it should be about
04:55 in terms of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
04:58 That whole discussion of what Bayard had to go through,
05:01 even within the Black community,
05:03 because he was in the LGBT community,
05:06 he had to know how to navigate situations that were highly delicate.
05:11 On the day that I was born Black, I was also born a homosexual.
05:15 They either believe in freedom and justice for all, or they do not.
05:20 The most sophisticated aspect of the movie was the last scene
05:24 where the leadership is walking in one direction, he's walking in another,
05:28 and they portray him as a man of the people,
05:31 even though he organized the march in Washington.
05:35 Hello, son, how are you? Would you mind?
05:38 Thank you.
05:41 [music]
05:47 [music]
05:49 [music]
05:52 [music]
05:55 [music]
05:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]