‘Moyers & Company’ special will commemorate March on Washington
Fifty years ago, on Aug. 28, 1963, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream†speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the momentous civil right’s event known as the March on Washington.
Between 200,000 and 300,000 people are estimated to have participated in the march, making it one of the largest political rallies for human rights in U.S. history.
U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) was there, and is that day’s last surviving speaker. Journalist Bill Moyers was also there. At the time Moyers was serving as President Johnson’s press secretary and advisor.
Now the two men have joined together to discuss the details of that day, and the ways in which it helped spur the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Their talk, which will air the weekend of July 26 on “Moyers & Company†and on BillMoyers.com, includes footage of them standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial where marchers including King, Bayard Rustin and Roy Wilkins called for tolerance, equality and freedom.
While Lewis and Moyers talk, some schoolchildren approach them and they answer a variety of earnest, unscripted questions.
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Of his speech from that day, Lewis tells Moyers, “Some people thought the speech was a little too radical, a little too militant. But when I look back, there was not anything militant or radical about the speech. It was a lot of words, a little rhetoric -- but we were demanding action.â€
Historic documentary footage is also edited into the conversation, and Moyers discusses the ways the day affected Johnson.
“What struck me about the speeches that morning was that they weren’t just about segregation. They were about an egalitarian vision of America, white and black, that was part of the social gospel all of you seemed to be preaching,†Moyers says to Lewis.
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