Conclusion

Abstract

On August 28, 1963, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his now infamous speech “I Have a Dream” in Washington, DC. Thousands gathered at the Lincoln Memorial and adjacent areas surrounding the reflecting pool to hear this scholar-pastor utter a prophetic word in a nation that used social constructions of race, class, and gender to justify systems of injustice. Because King had demonstrated an ability to speak truth to power during his involvement with the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott individuals traveled miles to witness this historic 1963 event. Almost a decade since the Supreme Court’s school desegregation ruling, attending the March on Washington meant that some individuals made a conscious decision to ride in segregated buses and trains. Individuals who elected to drive did so with the knowledge that they would have limited access to restaurants and public facilities, such as lavatories. In addition, families and community members who sacrificed to send a representative to the nation’s capital gathered around televisions and radios to listen to this future Nobel Peace Prize winner (December 1964) declare unequivocally the full humanity of all people.