The historic Lincoln Memorial rally held during the 1963 March on Washington featured many powerful speeches of civil rights leaders. There were many speakers, separated by brief appearances from black and white entertainers, including Harry Belafonte, Marlon Brando, Marian Anderson, and Paul Newman. Three important speakers of that day were A. Philip Randolph, the 74 year-old president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; John Lewis, the president of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and only 22 years old; and the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., who at thirty-four was the head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The rally offered these leaders an extraordinary forum for promoting the goal of full citizenship for black Americans.

Click on the speeches, then print a copy for your use in this activity.

Activity:

1. Read all three speeches, preferably aloud, to get a sense of rhythm and cadence. (Since Dr. King’s speech is so often available in libraries, you might consider simply listening to a recording of his remarks with a copy of his speech in front of you.)

2. Work with other classmates in a group of three to accomplish these tasks:

A. Each group member should conduct further research through library, classroom, or Internet sources, to find out more about one of these three civil rights leaders. (Your Student Text already gives you much information about Randolph, so if you do further research about him, be sure you examine a new aspect of a topic, not one you’ve already studied.) Take notes.

B. Each group member should find information about one of the organizations led by these civil rights leaders, either Brotherhood of Porters, SCLC, or SNCC (specifically, when it was founded, what was its scope, who were its leaders at the time of the march, and what was its primary mission?).

Take notes.

3. Before looking at the speeches again, discuss with your group members what you learned from your research about these leaders.

4. Keeping the above background information in mind, and using the print copy speeches, discuss these questions with your partners. Continue to take notes.

• Why do you think A. Philip Randolph was the first speaker of the rally, and Martin Luther King was the last? What was the benefit of this order for the momentum of the rally?

• Which of the three speeches seemed most practical, the most grounded in specific recommendations for change? Provide supporting examples.
  
• In your opinion, which speech seemed most inspirational? Provide examples.
  
• From each speech, write down what you consider the most forceful or dramatic sentence. Explain your choice.

• A goal of the March on Washington was to support President Kennedy’s civil rights bill. Did the speakers mention that bill? If so, in what context?

• In what ways did all three speakers express discontent with the injustices brought by whites in the past? Provide clear examples.

• Which lines from the speeches conveyed the impact of these injustices most dramatically? Write down at least three powerful sentences that seem particularly effective.

• In what ways do all three speeches, either in subtle or direct ways, warn white America that blacks will not accept second-class citizenship. Provide at least one specific example from each speech.

• Do all three leaders suggest avenues for achieving positive change? Explain. Specifically, what does each speaker ask of Americans for the future? Provide examples.

• John Lewis’s speech was considered by some black leaders at the March on Washington as too strident and militant (see Student Text, Part 3). Re-read Lewis’s speech and compare it to A. Philip Randolph’s. In what ways are they similar in tone? How might the leaders’ response to John Lewis’s speech have been shaped by his youthfulness and his role in SNCC?
  
• Much of A. Philip Randolph’s professional career was spent as the president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, a labor union. Do you think that labor union background is reflected in his speech? Explain.
  
• Dr. Martin Luther King, a graduate of Crozer Theological Seminary, was a minister. At the time of the march he led the SCLC, an alliance of about 100 church-oriented groups. When he accepted the leadership of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, he was a young pastor at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Do certain passages in his speech reflect his religious background? Explain.
  
• All three speakers mention historical events either directly or indirectly. (e.g., Dr. King said, "We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies . . . cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.") With the help of your teacher, identify one such event and gather more information about it. Incorporate your findings into your notes so that you can share them with your classmates.

5. As a culminating activity, organize a reader’s theater presentation entitled "Three Voices" by making these preparations:

• Enlist three students in your class who enjoy acting to prepare one of the three speeches featured in this lesson. Though the actors can’t be expected to memorize the speeches, they must be familiar with the speech and decide on a style of presentation.

• Your task is to use the information gleaned from the above research and discussion to prepare a dramatic introduction for a student "actor" who will present the Randolph, Lewis, or King speech in a reader’s theater format.

• Your introduction should incorporate what you learned about your featured speaker to provide background to the audience before the speech is presented. You should try to present your introduction in a creative way. You can use music, art, or drama to convey the message.

• Ask your teacher for permission to set up the classroom as a reader’s theater by arranging the chairs in a tight semicircle, the "stage" in the middle. With a couple of sturdy flashlights you can create a theater atmosphere. Presenters and actors usually wear all black to create a non-distracting atmosphere for such activities.
  
• Ask a classmate to provide appropriate background music for the beginning and the ending of the presentation. Enlist a fellow student to prepare an introduction to the program with an emphasis on providing a historical context. After a musical prelude and the introduction proceed with the program.
  
• If possible, invite other classes to watch the presentation.

 

As an added feature

On the day before the reader’s theater, ask your teacher to show the segment from the PBS video series, Eyes on the Prize, which features the March on Washington ("No Easy Walk"). Your classmates will see the magnitude of the event and gain inspiration for your presentation.

To expand the activity

Click on the activity, "Oh, Freedom." Combine that activity with this one for a more elaborate presentation. If your school celebrates Black History Month these two ideas might provide the basis for a rich and informative assembly program.

As a follow-up to the reader’s theater

In all three speeches delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963, the speakers looked forward to a time when black Americans would enjoy full citizenship. Using current newspapers, magazines, or the Internet, find articles either suggesting that positive change has occurred in civil rights since the March on Washington, or that there is still work to be done. Cut and paste each article onto your own notebook paper and summarize the articles’ main points. Display the articles on a bulletin board in positive and negative categories.

After your class analyzes the findings, pretend your are writing a letter to either Randolph, Lewis or King. Using your personal experiences and the information you have gathered from the articles, explain how conditions have changed for black Americans in the last four decades. Use specific examples and link your points to a specific challenge or problem mentioned in one of the speeches made in 1963. Share your letters with your classmates. Dr. King was assassinated in April 1968 and A. Philip Randolph died in 1979. Consider, though, sending your letter to John Lewis, presently a U.S. Congressman from Georgia.