By Jim Norman
The 50th anniversary of the March on Washington is approaching. The 1963 march was the largest political rally for human rights in United States history. It was organized by civil-rights, labor and religious organizations for jobs and civil rights. Almost 300,000 participants traveled by bus, car, train and plane from every corner of the country to march against discrimination in the workplace and in government. They marched for the right to vote without the threat of violence and intimidation. They marched for jobs, for an end to Jim Crow laws of segregation, for equal treatment, for the rights and protections owed to a citizen of the United States. They marched to receive the rights, protections and privileges promised 100 years earlier upon the end of slavery.
The passion, determination and presence of those hundreds of thousands of men and women of various races, ages and religions led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
