Re: March on Washington (multiple responses)

SIXTIES-L (SIXTIES-L@jefferson.village.virginia.edu)
Sun, 26 Oct 1997 02:34:03 -0500

[1]

From: benjamin berry <bberry@vwc.edu>

>I would like to hear from anyone who was at the March on Washington on
>August 28, 1963.

I was there but the crowd was soooo large that I was totally unaware of the
filming or of any "social science " types around. I had been on a bus from
Boston all night and spent the early part of the program trying to stay
awake but failing. The mood of the crowd, as I recall it, was festive,
being very happy that all those people had actually come to the march (I
think the crowd was larger than the Park Service estimated -- they began
that practice long before the Million Man March). If I can offer any more
information, let me know.

*****************************************
Benjamin Berry, Jr.
Professor of American Studies and History
Virginia Wesleyan College
1584 Wesleyan Drive
Norfolk/Virginia Beach, VA 23502
voice:(757)455-3233 fax:(757)455-5703
e-mail: bberry@vwc.edu
*******************************************

[2]

From: Jonah Raskin <jonah.raskin@sonoma.edu>

I was at the March on Washington in 1963. I was 21 years old. I was
not aware of anyone there filming it, or researching it. At the time I
thought of it as an historic event because there were so many people,
because it was in Washington, D.C. - before the nation - because there
were so many Afro-Americans there, and because the crowd was so
passionate about civil rights. It felt like the time had finally
come. Jonah Raskin