0:00:32 > 0:00:35MARTIN LUTHER KING: 'I have had to tell my children
0:00:35 > 0:00:38about the segregation and what it means.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44'My seven-year-old daughter, she wanted to go to Fun Town.'
0:00:44 > 0:00:46'And we found it necessary'
0:00:46 > 0:00:50to explain to her that she couldn't go to Fun Town
0:00:50 > 0:00:53because she was coloured.
0:00:55 > 0:01:00'To attempt to explain a system like the unjust and evil
0:01:00 > 0:01:03'system of segregation to a six year-old child,
0:01:03 > 0:01:05'is a very difficult thing.'
0:01:11 > 0:01:15In 1963, the movement for civil rights came to the most
0:01:15 > 0:01:18segregated city in the American South -
0:01:18 > 0:01:20Birmingham, Alabama.
0:01:22 > 0:01:28'Birmingham is a symbol of hard-core resistance to integration.'
0:01:28 > 0:01:32It is the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States.
0:01:34 > 0:01:39'It has had more unsolved bombings of negro homes
0:01:39 > 0:01:42'and churches than any city in the United states.'
0:01:45 > 0:01:48It's not like any other southern city, OK?
0:01:48 > 0:01:50Birmingham is "Bombingham".
0:01:52 > 0:01:57They have quarries, and down in the quarry business, you use dynamite.
0:01:57 > 0:01:58So there are a lot of local people
0:01:58 > 0:02:00who are expert in the use of dynamite.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10A teenage boy riding a bicycle had been knocked off the bike
0:02:10 > 0:02:12and castrated.
0:02:12 > 0:02:17A young couple had gone to the city hall to get a wedding licence,
0:02:17 > 0:02:21came around the corner and brushed shoulders
0:02:21 > 0:02:24with a Birmingham policeman
0:02:24 > 0:02:26and he pulled out his pistol
0:02:26 > 0:02:29and pistol whipped the boy to the ground.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32I mean, it was a horrible, heinous place.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36The campaign was to be led by the organisation's
0:02:36 > 0:02:41then 34-year-old leader, the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr.
0:02:42 > 0:02:48It is immoral to urge people to accept
0:02:48 > 0:02:53injustices of oppression and second-class citizenship
0:02:53 > 0:02:58in an attempt to wait until the so-called opportune time.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01The time is always right to do right.
0:03:04 > 0:03:09Dr King was the voice of civil rights from the bus boycott on.
0:03:09 > 0:03:14But by the end of 1962 he recognised that the civil rights movement
0:03:14 > 0:03:19was losing what he called its window in history.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22The South was still segregated
0:03:22 > 0:03:25and he said, "We need to take more of a risk.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28"We need to go for broke. I need to go for broke."
0:03:30 > 0:03:34I think he felt that we have to be willing to give our lives
0:03:34 > 0:03:36to put an end to segregation.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40If we do, then segregation will end even if we die.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44That was the reason he chose Birmingham.
0:03:46 > 0:03:51'Before the victory's won, some may even have to face physical death.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55'We must come to see that there are some things so eternally true,
0:03:55 > 0:03:57'that they are worth dying for.'
0:03:57 > 0:04:01And if a man has not discovered something that he will die for,
0:04:01 > 0:04:03he isn't fit to live.
0:04:10 > 0:04:15In January of 1963, one man was determined to stop King's
0:04:15 > 0:04:18desegregation message from spreading any further.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22Birmingham's police chief, Eugene "Bull" Connor.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26The so-called Negro movement is a part of the attempted takeover
0:04:26 > 0:04:30of our country by the lazy, the indolent, the beatniks,
0:04:30 > 0:04:35the ignorant, and by some misguided religionists and bleeding hearts.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38Do you think you can keep Birmingham
0:04:38 > 0:04:41in the present situation of segregation?
0:04:41 > 0:04:44I may not be able to do it, but I'll die trying.
0:04:44 > 0:04:50# The Lord will see us through
0:04:50 > 0:04:54# The Lord will see us through... #
0:04:54 > 0:04:58Overcoming Bull Connor's segregationist zeal,
0:04:58 > 0:05:02not to mention his jails, would take something special.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04And in the winter of '63,
0:05:04 > 0:05:07King would find out just how special that effort needed to be.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15He spent all of January, February and March 1963,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18training people to accept non-violence,
0:05:18 > 0:05:22to go down into marches and be willing to go into Bull Connor's jails.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26But Connor's jails were so fearsome that no matter how much
0:05:26 > 0:05:30they exhorted people and no matter how many freedom songs they sang,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33how many prayers they prayed, how much fervour there was in
0:05:33 > 0:05:37the meetings, people wouldn't show up to risk going into those jails.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44With the campaign paralysed by fear and defeat looming,
0:05:44 > 0:05:46King put his reputation on the line.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51Defying a city ban on demonstrations,
0:05:51 > 0:05:53he led one from the front.
0:05:56 > 0:06:01As King was led off to jail, a new group emerged from the shadows.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03DOGS BARK IN THE DISTANCE
0:06:08 > 0:06:11He's in jail - he doesn't know if the protests are going to
0:06:11 > 0:06:13continue or whether Bull Connor's going to win.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21Then the young people entered the Birmingham struggle.
0:06:21 > 0:06:27# Ain't gonna let nobody turn me round
0:06:27 > 0:06:29# Turn me round
0:06:29 > 0:06:31# Turn me round... #
0:06:31 > 0:06:35I don't mind coming to jail. I don't mind suffering at all.
0:06:35 > 0:06:40- And I will suffer some more just for my freedom.- I want equal rights.
0:06:40 > 0:06:41I want equal rights.
0:06:44 > 0:06:49# ..Marching up to freedom land. #
0:06:52 > 0:06:57These young teenagers essentially saved the movement.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10The violence against the civilised demonstrators was
0:07:10 > 0:07:13going on spasmodically.
0:07:13 > 0:07:18But Bull Connor and his dogs was on national television.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21Everybody in America saw that.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25And most everybody that saw it was shocked. Was really shocked.
0:07:33 > 0:07:38The pictures were so shocking that it raised the moral issue of what
0:07:38 > 0:07:41kind of nation is America?
0:07:41 > 0:07:43Are we a country better than this?
0:07:52 > 0:07:55As the Birmingham campaign escalated,
0:07:55 > 0:07:57King moved around the country.
0:07:57 > 0:07:59What he saw surprised him
0:07:59 > 0:08:03and altered his thinking about the future of the movement.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09Dr King came out of Birmingham, travelling around,
0:08:09 > 0:08:10instead of going into towns
0:08:10 > 0:08:13and giving a talk in the black church, there are 15,000
0:08:13 > 0:08:17people at the airport and they're mixed, black and white.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21He says, "We're on a breakthrough, we have to take advantage of this.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23"We have to have a national protest.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27"Call Philip Randolph and say his idea that he's been thinking about
0:08:27 > 0:08:30"to revive and have a national march on Washington,
0:08:30 > 0:08:31"we need to do it now."
0:08:40 > 0:08:46A Philip Randolph was the founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, in the 1920s.
0:08:46 > 0:08:51The sleeping car porters were black workers in the railroad industry.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00There was a time that blacks did all kinds of work in the railroad industry,
0:09:00 > 0:09:03but as the new technology came,
0:09:03 > 0:09:06they were dismissed and whites took the job.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09The one thing that could get organised
0:09:09 > 0:09:13and remained African American, were the sleeping car porters.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24Universally recognised as the dean of the Civil Rights Movement,
0:09:24 > 0:09:29Randolph had earned that title in a 40-year fight for racial equality.
0:09:33 > 0:09:40A Philip Randolph was in fact the first black leader to advocate mass action.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43He understood that the only way to make progress in this country
0:09:43 > 0:09:47was not only through mass action, but that you had to centre
0:09:47 > 0:09:51your activity on Washington DC, on the Congress and on the President.
0:09:57 > 0:09:59A Philip Randolph told me the story
0:09:59 > 0:10:02when he was a young man leading demonstrations,
0:10:02 > 0:10:06President Roosevelt and Mrs Roosevelt had invited him to dinner.
0:10:08 > 0:10:13During the dinner, A Philip Randolph outlined all of the issues
0:10:13 > 0:10:17and things that he thought that the President should act on
0:10:17 > 0:10:18and be responding to.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24By the time it ended, Roosevelt said, "Mr Randolph,
0:10:24 > 0:10:29"for all that you have said here tonight, I'd ask you to please
0:10:29 > 0:10:36"go out in your world and make me do what you have asked me to do."
0:10:37 > 0:10:39A Philip Randolph went back to the people that he knew,
0:10:39 > 0:10:43held a meeting and said, "We're going to march on Washington."
0:10:43 > 0:10:47And the president signed the Fair Employment Practises Bill within days.
0:10:54 > 0:10:59Negroes want the same things that white citizens possess.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01All of their rights.
0:11:01 > 0:11:08They want no reservations and no force under the sun can stem
0:11:08 > 0:11:13and block and stop this civil rights revolution which is now under way.
0:11:16 > 0:11:21Randolph would organise two further marches on Washington in the '50s.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25On both he would be helped by another figure - Bayard Rustin.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32Everybody knew Bayard was an organisational genius.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38He had been a member of the Young Communist League,
0:11:38 > 0:11:43he had been a conscientious objector during World War II.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47He served 18 months in federal penitentiary for that.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49And, of course, he was gay.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52And he never hid that fact.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00Rustin was also an old ally of Martin Luther King.
0:12:03 > 0:12:09It was a relationship formed during the momentous event that launched King on the national scene -
0:12:09 > 0:12:12the Montgomery bus boycott of 1956.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17Mr Randolph spoke to Dr King in the early days
0:12:17 > 0:12:21of the Montgomery bus protest
0:12:21 > 0:12:25and suggested to him that Bayard would be a real help.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33From that period through the 1960s,
0:12:33 > 0:12:38Bayard was in virtual daily contact with Dr King.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43At the height of the desegregation battle was Bull Connor's forces,
0:12:43 > 0:12:45Rustin travelled to Birmingham.
0:12:49 > 0:12:54And when Bull Connor turned the city's fire hoses on its black children,
0:12:54 > 0:12:57Rustin was on hand giving advice.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00One important piece of advice he would give
0:13:00 > 0:13:03came in the form of a message from A Philip Randolph.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09A Philip Randolph sent Bayard Rustin down
0:13:09 > 0:13:16and said, "Look, rather than keep this a southern black movement,
0:13:16 > 0:13:19"we need to organise a march on Washington
0:13:19 > 0:13:22"that would make it a national movement."
0:13:24 > 0:13:27Randolph had been stating in public that there may be
0:13:27 > 0:13:32a need for another march on Washington in the early 1960s.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37The Kennedy administration, which had come in with so much hope
0:13:37 > 0:13:40for civil rights, had faltered
0:13:40 > 0:13:43and was almost terminally hesitant to do things.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50In 1960, John Fitzgerald Kennedy became the new president.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55From the beginning, Kennedy's message of hope
0:13:55 > 0:13:58and freedom struck a chord with many across the world.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03At the height of his travels, the new president's commitment to
0:14:03 > 0:14:07democratic values would also embolden many closer to home.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12KING: 'I have already talked with the President about issuing
0:14:12 > 0:14:17'a sort of second emancipation proclamation.'
0:14:17 > 0:14:20The shape of the world today does not afford us the luxury
0:14:20 > 0:14:22of such an anaemic democracy.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28Two years into his presidency, however,
0:14:28 > 0:14:30very little had happened on racial equality at home,
0:14:30 > 0:14:34and many, including King, began to lose patience.
0:14:35 > 0:14:41'President Kennedy has done some significant things
0:14:41 > 0:14:43and at the same time,'
0:14:43 > 0:14:47I must say that President Kennedy hadn't done enough,
0:14:47 > 0:14:50and we must remind him that we elected him.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07I had been involved with the relationship between Kennedy
0:15:07 > 0:15:09and Martin Luther King.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12When I saw King and Kennedy together,
0:15:12 > 0:15:16the President let King know that it made no sense
0:15:16 > 0:15:18to go forward in the first session of Congress
0:15:18 > 0:15:20with the Civil Rights Bill.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24When we left, Martin said,
0:15:24 > 0:15:28"I hoped we at last had a President
0:15:28 > 0:15:31"who had the intelligence to understand the problem,
0:15:31 > 0:15:35"who had the political skills to solve it,
0:15:35 > 0:15:38"and who had the passion to see it through."
0:15:38 > 0:15:42He said, "I'm certainly convinced of the first two."
0:15:44 > 0:15:49"And we'll just have to see what happens about seeing it through."
0:15:54 > 0:15:56In June 1963,
0:15:56 > 0:15:58events began to force the President's hand
0:15:58 > 0:16:02in ways both tragic and entirely anticipated.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08On June 12th, Medgar Evers is assassinated.
0:16:08 > 0:16:13Also in June, Vivian Malone and James Hood
0:16:13 > 0:16:17are students who had been admitted to the University of Alabama.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20But the University of Alabama had refused to admit them.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22The person refusing the students admission
0:16:22 > 0:16:24was none other than the State Governor.
0:16:25 > 0:16:30As Governor, I am the highest Constitutional Officer of the state
0:16:30 > 0:16:34of Alabama, and I will be present to bar the entrance
0:16:34 > 0:16:38of any negro who attempts to enrol at the University of Alabama.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45When you have a Governor standing in the way of executing
0:16:45 > 0:16:50a federal court order, any President is going to have to
0:16:50 > 0:16:51take a stand on that.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55That pushes Kennedy to recognise that he can't avoid this
0:16:55 > 0:16:57issue any more.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01As the university crisis unfolded,
0:17:01 > 0:17:04the Kennedy administration also found itself
0:17:04 > 0:17:07confronted by an equally urgent set of problems elsewhere.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15All these demonstrations are breaking out in hundreds of cities.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19200 people going to jail here, 500 people going to jail there.
0:17:21 > 0:17:26His advisors came to him and said, "This is going to not die down.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29"The only alternative is to bite the bullet
0:17:29 > 0:17:32"and propose a bill to end segregation."
0:17:35 > 0:17:38We are confronted primarily with a moral issue.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40It is as old as the Scriptures
0:17:40 > 0:17:43and is as clear as the American constitution.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47We preach freedom around the world, and we mean it,
0:17:47 > 0:17:50and we cherish our freedom here at home.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54But are we to say to the world, and much more importantly,
0:17:54 > 0:17:59to each other, that this is the land of the free, except for the negroes?
0:17:59 > 0:18:02It is a remarkable speech in history,
0:18:02 > 0:18:07in the sense that it was one more day's demonstrations
0:18:07 > 0:18:11made him call his advisors in and say, "That's it.
0:18:11 > 0:18:12"I want to propose this bill."
0:18:12 > 0:18:15And his advisors said, "When?" And he said, "Tonight."
0:18:15 > 0:18:17And they said, "What?!"
0:18:17 > 0:18:21Next week I shall ask the Congress of the United States to act.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24To make a commitment it has not fully made in this century,
0:18:24 > 0:18:30to the proposition that race has no place in American life, or law.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37By the time Kennedy made that speech,
0:18:37 > 0:18:39King had already begun his post-Birmingham tour
0:18:39 > 0:18:40across the country.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51That tour would convince him that Randolph's march on Washington idea
0:18:51 > 0:18:54was the best way forward, and he began to say so.
0:18:54 > 0:19:00We are calling for a non-violent peaceful march on Washington.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02CLAPPING
0:19:04 > 0:19:08We want to go there, not by the hundreds, not by the thousands,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11but by the hundreds of thousands.
0:19:14 > 0:19:19We are determined to be free in '63.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24In a way, you've got two streams coming together.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28The political stream that Kennedy had making that speech,
0:19:28 > 0:19:32and King's protest stream planning to have a march.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35Now they've got a bill that the President has introduced
0:19:35 > 0:19:36to have a march for.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44Randolph wanted the march to be about jobs,
0:19:44 > 0:19:46King wanted it to be about freedom.
0:19:48 > 0:19:49Randolph is saying,
0:19:49 > 0:19:53"We may need to march to try to push President Kennedy
0:19:53 > 0:19:55"into doing the right thing, the same way we pushed
0:19:55 > 0:19:59"President Roosevelt into doing the right thing in World War II."
0:20:02 > 0:20:07On July 2nd 1963, the first meeting of the March On Washington Committee
0:20:07 > 0:20:09would take place in New York.
0:20:09 > 0:20:14For four months, Randolph had been planning for just such a meeting.
0:20:16 > 0:20:22In January of 1963, Bayard and Norman Hill
0:20:22 > 0:20:27and Tom Cohen drafted a memo to Mr Randolph, essentially saying,
0:20:27 > 0:20:32"Now is the time for a march for jobs and economic freedom."
0:20:36 > 0:20:40We met several times in Bayard Rustin's apartment,
0:20:40 > 0:20:43and came up with a plan.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46This plan, we presented to A Philip Randolph,
0:20:46 > 0:20:49well before the critically important meeting
0:20:49 > 0:20:53of the big six civil rights leaders
0:20:53 > 0:20:58that actually decided and agreed that the march ought to take place.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02A Philip Randolph, Negro American Labour Council.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05Whitney Young, the National Urban League.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09Roy Wilkins, the NAACP.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13John Lewis, Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17James Forman, Congress of Racial Equality.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20And Martin Luther King Jr,
0:21:20 > 0:21:22Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28The leaders of the six biggest Civil Rights organisations.
0:21:32 > 0:21:37On July 2nd 1963, Randolph will chair their first meeting.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44A march will be held on August 28th,
0:21:44 > 0:21:47and it will have a two-fold purpose.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49Number one, to arouse a conscience of the nation
0:21:49 > 0:21:52on the economic plight of the negro
0:21:52 > 0:21:56100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00And to demand strong forthright civil rights legislation,
0:22:00 > 0:22:03the President's proposed Civil Rights Bill.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16A Philip Randolph calls people together to New York
0:22:16 > 0:22:21to meet about how are we going to stage this march,
0:22:21 > 0:22:24and by June, they're meeting with President Kennedy.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32We, as a group, were invited by Bayard Rustin,
0:22:32 > 0:22:34along with A Philip Randolph,
0:22:34 > 0:22:39to attend a meeting with President Kennedy, in late June of 1963.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46It was in that meeting that A Philip Randolph spoke up.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48"Mr President,
0:22:48 > 0:22:51"we're going to march on Washington.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53"The people are restless.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56"The black masses are restless."
0:22:58 > 0:23:02The Kennedy administration was a reluctant partner
0:23:02 > 0:23:04when it came to the march.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07The President feared that it might turn violent,
0:23:07 > 0:23:10and if it did, it would kill any chance
0:23:10 > 0:23:14for civil rights legislation getting through the Congress.
0:23:14 > 0:23:20He tried his best to talk the leaders out of the march.
0:23:20 > 0:23:25And when he found that they were not talkable-outable,
0:23:25 > 0:23:27he joined the march.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31Despite agreeing to support the march,
0:23:31 > 0:23:34the President had something else on his mind that day.
0:23:35 > 0:23:41President Kennedy took Dr King out into the rose garden,
0:23:41 > 0:23:46and said that he was receiving a lot of pressure from the FBI
0:23:46 > 0:23:52and others, that this movement was heavily infiltrated by communists.
0:23:56 > 0:24:02He said, "The FBI has determined that there are two top communists
0:24:02 > 0:24:07"from the Communist Party United States among your top advisors.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11"They are Stanley David Levison and Jack Hunter Pitts O'Dell."
0:24:12 > 0:24:16"And you have to get rid of them immediately."
0:24:20 > 0:24:24I was operating two jobs - direct mail fundraising
0:24:24 > 0:24:27and then I was director of voter registration.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31So when President Kennedy told me we've got to fire Jack O'Dell,
0:24:31 > 0:24:33Dr King said, "Well, I told Kennedy, I don't see where
0:24:33 > 0:24:37"he got the time to be no communist, cos he's got two jobs with me.
0:24:37 > 0:24:39"And both of them are full-time jobs."
0:24:41 > 0:24:44Of the two men he was told to let go,
0:24:44 > 0:24:47as a pre-condition for Kennedy's support of the march,
0:24:47 > 0:24:52Stanley Levison was one that King had become especially reliant on.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54PHONE RINGS
0:24:56 > 0:25:00Levison and King had been close since the late 1950s.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06Levison did all sorts of advising,
0:25:06 > 0:25:08political counselling,
0:25:08 > 0:25:11editorial advising for King.
0:25:13 > 0:25:20Only in early 1962, did the FBI learn that Levison had become
0:25:20 > 0:25:23a close friend of King's.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28When the march on Washington was announced,
0:25:28 > 0:25:32Hoover goes to Kennedy and tells him about what he knows
0:25:32 > 0:25:35about Stanley Levison and his background.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39And he wants to institute wiretaps
0:25:39 > 0:25:44in order to see what kind of relationship exists
0:25:44 > 0:25:46between Levison and King.
0:25:47 > 0:25:53They began wiretapping Levison, with the support of the Kennedy brothers.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57But, as of the summer of 1963,
0:25:57 > 0:26:02they had produced not one scintilla of evidence
0:26:02 > 0:26:07indicating that Levison had any sympathy for communism.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16The wiretap on Stanley Levison became the predicate
0:26:16 > 0:26:18for all of the wiretaps,
0:26:18 > 0:26:20including the wiretaps on Martin Luther King,
0:26:20 > 0:26:22including the wiretap on Bayard Rustin,
0:26:22 > 0:26:25including the wiretap on Martin Luther King's lawyers.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32By late July, innuendo and rumour from these wiretaps
0:26:32 > 0:26:33would be news on Capitol Hill.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38As the iconic figurehead of the impending march,
0:26:38 > 0:26:40King was faced with a stark choice.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46Lose Presidential support, or turn your back on two friends.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51Jack O'Dell was finally let go.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57But clearly, in order to demonstrate to the Kennedys
0:26:57 > 0:27:00that we had severed our ties with quote - "a known communist".
0:27:09 > 0:27:11Despite the removal of O'Dell,
0:27:11 > 0:27:14the communist scare would dog plans for the march
0:27:14 > 0:27:16throughout July of '63.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22Fear of other possible controversies would also turn the selecting
0:27:22 > 0:27:25of a march organiser into a major argument.
0:27:27 > 0:27:32A Philip Randolph is determined to have his protege,
0:27:32 > 0:27:34Rustin, be the organiser of the march.
0:27:36 > 0:27:43But a lot of the other leaders felt that Rustin's very visible presence
0:27:43 > 0:27:46would be a vulnerability for the movement.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50Another aspect of Rustin's story
0:27:50 > 0:27:53is that he has three strikes against him.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56He's gay, he's red, and, you know, he's black.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01So we had a caucus,
0:28:01 > 0:28:04and we made a decision that we would recommend
0:28:04 > 0:28:08that A Philip Randolph be the convenor.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12So Mr Randolph, in his own way,
0:28:12 > 0:28:16selected Bayard Rustin as his deputy.
0:28:18 > 0:28:23Roy Wilkins said to Randolph, "You know his background.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27"All the segregationists are going to use this to attack the march."
0:28:27 > 0:28:32And Randolph said, "I will be responsible for him."
0:28:32 > 0:28:37# How many roads must a man walk down
0:28:39 > 0:28:43# Before they call him a man... #
0:28:45 > 0:28:47Once Rustin was formally in place,
0:28:47 > 0:28:50he and his staff had eight weeks to pull off
0:28:50 > 0:28:54one of the biggest political demonstrations in American history.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06# Listen, how many times
0:29:06 > 0:29:10# Must the cannonballs fly...#
0:29:10 > 0:29:12PHONE RINGS
0:29:13 > 0:29:16March on Washington, may I help you, please?
0:29:16 > 0:29:19Bayard Rustin, with the help of A Philip Randolph,
0:29:19 > 0:29:22and a young woman by the name of Rachelle Horowitz,
0:29:22 > 0:29:26put together the march.
0:29:27 > 0:29:32# The answer is blowin' in the wind. #
0:29:35 > 0:29:37Bayard set the tone.
0:29:37 > 0:29:42Work began at about nine in the morning, ended at eleven at night.
0:29:42 > 0:29:44Sundays was for staff meetings.
0:29:44 > 0:29:47Nobody quit before Bayard quit.
0:29:47 > 0:29:48PHONE RINGS
0:29:48 > 0:29:52This was 50 years ago, so there was no e-mail,
0:29:52 > 0:29:54there was no fax machine.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59Bayard had asked that each civil rights organisation
0:29:59 > 0:30:02loan two people to work on the staff.
0:30:02 > 0:30:03PHONE RINGS
0:30:03 > 0:30:08For a good six weeks, we worked six days a week and 18-hour days.
0:30:10 > 0:30:12I don't ever remember coming in
0:30:12 > 0:30:15before 10, 11 o'clock at night, you know?
0:30:23 > 0:30:28Another figure who will play a crucial role is Norman Hill,
0:30:28 > 0:30:30one of the original architects of the march.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36Norman played an incredibly important role
0:30:36 > 0:30:38when the march itself began.
0:30:38 > 0:30:40He was the field organiser.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46If one had to get...
0:30:46 > 0:30:50Roy Wilkins, Jim Farmer, Whitney Young and SNCC
0:30:50 > 0:30:54and John Lewis to say, "We're going to work and play well together..."
0:30:54 > 0:30:57it was magnified on the local level.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04What I actually did...
0:31:04 > 0:31:06was travel...
0:31:06 > 0:31:10from city to city by bus, train, or plane.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17The purpose of my travelling was to organise
0:31:17 > 0:31:19and develop local coalitions.
0:31:22 > 0:31:26They would work to generate participation in the march
0:31:26 > 0:31:28from their city.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31March on Washington buttons right here for sale.
0:31:31 > 0:31:33We're taking 25c donations for these buttons.
0:31:33 > 0:31:37They would raise funds to enable those...
0:31:37 > 0:31:41..lacking the means to go to Washington DC.
0:31:41 > 0:31:43- MAN ON LOUDSPEAKER: - Freedom Now Movement, hear me.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47We are requesting all citizens to move into Washington,
0:31:47 > 0:31:51to go by plane, by car, bus - any way that you can get there.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54My job was to get as many black people from the south to come
0:31:54 > 0:31:56up to Washington as possible.
0:31:59 > 0:32:01I went out talking to groups of people.
0:32:01 > 0:32:04I'd talk to them about the horrible violence
0:32:04 > 0:32:06that accompanied the racism...
0:32:06 > 0:32:08that I'd grown up with.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13And they usually came back with enough to charter another bus.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18Another figure who would prove invaluable
0:32:18 > 0:32:20throughout July and August
0:32:20 > 0:32:23is Hollywood star and entertainer Harry Belafonte.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28- BELAFONTE:- I went to California, spent endless days
0:32:28 > 0:32:32talking to artists, some of the great profiles of the day.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38I would then tell John Kennedy and others,
0:32:38 > 0:32:42"You'll have such an array of superstars.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46"There'll be so much high-profile presence."
0:32:49 > 0:32:53- CHARLTON HESTON:- We will march in Washington on August 28th 1963,
0:32:53 > 0:32:56along with hundreds of thousands of our fellow Americans.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00Harry was the pied piper and the conscience
0:33:00 > 0:33:05of the civil rights movement in the arts community.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09We will march because we recognise the events of the summer of 1963
0:33:09 > 0:33:12as among the most significant we have lived through.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16By simply getting them on the phone and talking to them,
0:33:16 > 0:33:20he was able to persuade Charlton Heston,
0:33:20 > 0:33:23who became the so-called "chairman".
0:33:23 > 0:33:28- WOMAN:- Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Lorraine Hansberry, Rita Moreno...
0:33:28 > 0:33:31Marlon Brando, Shelley Winters,
0:33:31 > 0:33:34James Garner, Steve McQueen...
0:33:34 > 0:33:38Sammy Davis...Tony Bennett...
0:33:41 > 0:33:45By early August, news of the impending march was everywhere,
0:33:45 > 0:33:49but the responses were not always what the organisers anticipated.
0:33:52 > 0:33:56When white Americans heard the idea of large numbers of black people
0:33:56 > 0:33:59coming together in Washington, they immediately thought of riot.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01Black people get together - riot.
0:34:03 > 0:34:05They immediately thought,
0:34:05 > 0:34:08"This is a terrible thing to do, they're going to do terrible things,
0:34:08 > 0:34:11riot in the streets, there'll be fights, there'll be everything.
0:34:13 > 0:34:15As the date of the march loomed,
0:34:15 > 0:34:18a president about to propose a Civil Rights Bill
0:34:18 > 0:34:20found himself increasingly drawn
0:34:20 > 0:34:23into a spiralling fear of impending violence.
0:34:25 > 0:34:27- JFK:- We want citizens to come to Washington
0:34:27 > 0:34:30if they feel that they're not having their rights expressed,
0:34:30 > 0:34:32but, of course, arrangements have been made
0:34:32 > 0:34:34to make this responsible and peaceful.
0:34:34 > 0:34:36This is NOT a march on the capital.
0:34:36 > 0:34:40Caught in a flurry of international dignitary visits,
0:34:40 > 0:34:43the President sounded upbeat whenever pressed about the march.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49Behind the scenes though, things were rather different.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52- MAN:- The original objective of the march was that it was supposed
0:34:52 > 0:34:56to be outside Congress and the President -
0:34:56 > 0:34:59particularly the Attorney General -
0:34:59 > 0:35:02they were absolutely appalled, they were frightened.
0:35:04 > 0:35:09There was very heavy debate on whether he should endorse it,
0:35:09 > 0:35:12because the thought was it could become violent,
0:35:12 > 0:35:16he would have sponsored a gathering of violence and it would be bad.
0:35:18 > 0:35:22So, he signed an order which allowed for immediate implementation
0:35:22 > 0:35:27of federal troops to be ready in case there was violence.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32Part of what also happens with these meetings
0:35:32 > 0:35:34with the Kennedy administration
0:35:34 > 0:35:37is a decision to kind of moderate the idea.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42If you're going to have a march on Washington,
0:35:42 > 0:35:45have it well under control of established organisations
0:35:45 > 0:35:49and, most of all, to have it a one-day march
0:35:49 > 0:35:53and that everybody involved is out of town by sundown.
0:35:55 > 0:35:57Those of us who were younger yelled at Bayard,
0:35:57 > 0:36:00"How could you do this, give it up?"
0:36:00 > 0:36:04And Bayard said, "Now, now, the more people we have,
0:36:04 > 0:36:06"the better this march will be."
0:36:06 > 0:36:09And so we went to plan B.
0:36:10 > 0:36:11INDISTINCT GOSPEL SINGING
0:36:15 > 0:36:18# Keep your eyes on the prize
0:36:18 > 0:36:21# Hold on, hold on... #
0:36:21 > 0:36:25August 27th, 1963. The night before the march.
0:36:29 > 0:36:36The anticipation in the city was measurable,
0:36:36 > 0:36:37you could feel it.
0:36:37 > 0:36:41People did not have any sense of what might happen.
0:36:41 > 0:36:43# Keep your eyes on the prize
0:36:43 > 0:36:46# Hold on, hold on
0:36:46 > 0:36:52# Hold on, hold on
0:36:52 > 0:36:56# Keep your eyes on the prize
0:36:56 > 0:36:57# Hold on... #
0:37:12 > 0:37:15I'd finished my first year, and during that time,
0:37:15 > 0:37:18when I began to hear there was going to be
0:37:18 > 0:37:19this massive march on Washington,
0:37:19 > 0:37:22I didn't know how I was going to get there,
0:37:22 > 0:37:23but I definitely wanted to be there.
0:37:26 > 0:37:30I managed to find a ride with an NAACP group
0:37:30 > 0:37:33that was leaving from Indianapolis on the night before the march.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41The bus ran overnight, so I didn't get a lot of sleep.
0:37:49 > 0:37:53Daybreak, August 28th, 1963,
0:37:53 > 0:37:55the morning of the march.
0:37:58 > 0:38:01We went on over to the march site.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04There weren't many people there when we got there.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06I remember... I was just saying,
0:38:06 > 0:38:08"I hope they come, I hope they come."
0:38:12 > 0:38:17We got up at the crack of dawn and I made the banners for the buses.
0:38:19 > 0:38:24You're a teenager and you know that this is something
0:38:24 > 0:38:28you need to do just because all of these people around you
0:38:28 > 0:38:32are inspired and inspiring you...
0:38:32 > 0:38:34to do all of this.
0:38:39 > 0:38:46# We shall overcome
0:38:46 > 0:38:51# We shall overcome... #
0:38:52 > 0:38:54Once we got out of Jersey,
0:38:54 > 0:38:59then you're hitting Philadelphia and Delaware -
0:38:59 > 0:39:02you're into dangerous territory.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09The plane will leave at midnight.
0:39:09 > 0:39:14You will arrive in Washington at 9am in the morning.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18When we arrive at 9am, there will be a press conference
0:39:18 > 0:39:22with our group as well as the people coming in from New York.
0:39:22 > 0:39:24- BELAFONTE:- We chartered planes that came from California,
0:39:24 > 0:39:28trains that came from New York and everywhere,
0:39:28 > 0:39:31ladened with the greatest artists
0:39:31 > 0:39:35that they would close the theatres on Broadway.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38Some of the studios suspended shooting for the day.
0:39:38 > 0:39:40So these stars from...
0:39:40 > 0:39:44I mean, the most, the most visible, to show up.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51It wasn't until, I guess, about 7.30-8.00
0:39:51 > 0:39:53that we saw people coming up the hill,
0:39:53 > 0:39:55that we breathed a sigh of relief.
0:39:55 > 0:39:57They're here.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04People kept coming and coming and coming.
0:40:04 > 0:40:06And we knew, from the moment...
0:40:06 > 0:40:10The moment the crowds began to arrive that we had a success.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14RHYTHMIC CLAPPING AND CHANTING
0:40:20 > 0:40:23As you came toward the Washington Mall,
0:40:23 > 0:40:27you began to notice the buses with signs on it.
0:40:27 > 0:40:31And you got a sense that something really special was happening.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36INDISTINCT SINGING
0:40:38 > 0:40:42I remember watching the first arrivals.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44It was my first major assignment
0:40:44 > 0:40:47and it was all fairly basic equipment
0:40:47 > 0:40:49and not knowing whether it would work,
0:40:49 > 0:40:53I began to feel nauseated and I started sipping Coca Cola
0:40:53 > 0:40:55and chewing Tums and nothing helped
0:40:55 > 0:40:58and I went down off the steps into the boxwood and I threw up.
0:40:59 > 0:41:02- MAN:- What do we want now? - # Freedom. #
0:41:02 > 0:41:04Freedom, freedom, freedom.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08- TV REPORTER:- The long-awaited march for jobs and freedom
0:41:08 > 0:41:10on Washington DC has started
0:41:10 > 0:41:13and it started early without its scheduled leaders.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16About ten minutes ago, the march began.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19# We are not afraid... #
0:41:20 > 0:41:23I tell you, when I began to really feel good
0:41:23 > 0:41:27was when Joan Baez sang We Shall Overcome.
0:41:28 > 0:41:33You just felt, "This is it, this is OK, this has got it."
0:41:33 > 0:41:35And you could feel everybody going, yes!
0:41:35 > 0:41:38# We shall overcome... #
0:41:38 > 0:41:41It was in some ways my best contribution
0:41:41 > 0:41:42to the civil rights movement.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45When I was making what I called "salt and pepper audiences".
0:41:48 > 0:41:50People come to me years and years later
0:41:50 > 0:41:53saying they were standing next to somebody from the school,
0:41:53 > 0:41:56holding hands, singing We Shall Overcome.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00Those stories are so moving to me.
0:42:00 > 0:42:02SONG: "If I Had a Hammer"
0:42:06 > 0:42:09By 9.30, 40,000 people were at the meeting point of the march.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14# I'd hammer out danger
0:42:14 > 0:42:17# I'd hammer out a warning... #
0:42:18 > 0:42:21Cars and buses had arrived from Alabama, Mississippi
0:42:21 > 0:42:23and every other southern state.
0:42:24 > 0:42:28By ten o'clock, 972 chartered buses
0:42:28 > 0:42:33and 13 special trains carrying 55,000 people had left New York.
0:42:33 > 0:42:38By 10:30, 100 buses an hour would be arriving in Washington.
0:42:42 > 0:42:44# Well, I got a hammer
0:42:44 > 0:42:47# And I got a bell
0:42:47 > 0:42:49# And I got a song to sing... #
0:42:49 > 0:42:56We call and ask you to assemble and begin the march for freedom now.
0:43:02 > 0:43:04Despite the growing numbers,
0:43:04 > 0:43:07not everything was going according to plan with the march.
0:43:07 > 0:43:10As the thousands moved towards the second site,
0:43:10 > 0:43:13a simmering dispute over one of the speeches
0:43:13 > 0:43:15threatened to derail all of the hard work.
0:43:19 > 0:43:24John Lewis showed copies of the speech to me and to Bayard.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26And we loved it.
0:43:26 > 0:43:30We thought it was the greatest thing in the world.
0:43:30 > 0:43:33CHANTING: Freedom, freedom.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36There's a young man who worked on our staff, Courtland Cox,
0:43:36 > 0:43:38and there was a press table,
0:43:38 > 0:43:41and I remember Courtland rushing past me saying,
0:43:41 > 0:43:43"I'm going to put John's speech on the press table."
0:43:43 > 0:43:45And I said, "Don't do it."
0:43:45 > 0:43:51# He's got the whole world in his hands... #
0:43:51 > 0:43:54The first call that Mr Randolph got
0:43:54 > 0:43:57was from Archbishop O'Boyle.
0:43:57 > 0:44:03O'Boyle said he would not do the invocation if John gave a speech.
0:44:06 > 0:44:08That hit us like a ton of bricks.
0:44:08 > 0:44:12For us it was a collective statement for SNCC
0:44:12 > 0:44:15and not John's speech alone.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18I was very upset about it, we all were.
0:44:20 > 0:44:22With the march in progress,
0:44:22 > 0:44:26threats of a boycott also arrive from another unexpected quarter.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30Aspects of John Lewis's speech
0:44:30 > 0:44:33had so alarmed some members of the march committee
0:44:33 > 0:44:36that they too were threatening to walk.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39In the text, I've suggested
0:44:39 > 0:44:42that if we did not see meaningful progress
0:44:42 > 0:44:46the day may come where we may be forced to march to the South,
0:44:46 > 0:44:49the way Sherman did, non-violently.
0:44:49 > 0:44:53And the other leaders said, "No, no, you can't use that, John,
0:44:53 > 0:44:55"that is too inflammatory."
0:44:58 > 0:45:01Randolph said, "You know, even though I sympathise
0:45:01 > 0:45:03"with a lot of the things you're saying,
0:45:03 > 0:45:05"you're going to have to change it."
0:45:05 > 0:45:08He said, "I've been trying to achieve this march
0:45:08 > 0:45:11"since before you were born...
0:45:11 > 0:45:16"and I don't want to see it ruined right on the eve of this march."
0:45:22 > 0:45:26We got to the Lincoln Memorial and the programme had started,
0:45:26 > 0:45:29and Jim Forman of SNCC and John were there
0:45:29 > 0:45:31and they were working out
0:45:31 > 0:45:34what could be taken out without compromising it.
0:45:34 > 0:45:39And virtually until the last-minute they were both working on it.
0:45:39 > 0:45:41# We shall not
0:45:41 > 0:45:45# We shall not be moved. #
0:45:47 > 0:45:49Assured that the speech would be changed,
0:45:49 > 0:45:52Archbishop O'Boyle agreed to the invocation.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56Our Father who art in Heaven,
0:45:56 > 0:46:00we who are assembled here in a spirit of peace and in good faith
0:46:00 > 0:46:05dedicate ourselves and our hopes to you.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09We ask the fullness of your blessing upon those
0:46:09 > 0:46:10who have gathered with us today.
0:46:16 > 0:46:20By lunchtime over 150,000 people had assembled.
0:46:22 > 0:46:26And cars, coaches and trains still kept coming.
0:46:28 > 0:46:30In the sweltering August heat,
0:46:30 > 0:46:32performers and speakers took to the stage.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37By early afternoon over 200,000 had filled the Mall,
0:46:37 > 0:46:41one of the largest demonstrations in American history.
0:46:43 > 0:46:47# Like the stillness in the wind before the hurricane begins
0:46:47 > 0:46:51# The hour that the ship comes in... #
0:46:51 > 0:46:53For 100 years the negro people
0:46:53 > 0:46:57have searched for first class citizenship.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00I believe that they cannot and should not wait until
0:47:00 > 0:47:04some distant tomorrow, they should demand freedom now.
0:47:04 > 0:47:06Here and now.
0:47:20 > 0:47:22I have some 1,500 names here.
0:47:31 > 0:47:35There you would see Burt Lancaster one minute and Robert Ryan the next,
0:47:35 > 0:47:39Paul Newman, James Baldwin and Lena Horne
0:47:39 > 0:47:41and Sidney Poitier.
0:47:42 > 0:47:46Everywhere you looked there was these...
0:47:46 > 0:47:48nuggets of celebrity.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53Everywhere you looked,
0:47:53 > 0:47:56you saw black and white people.
0:47:56 > 0:48:02It was a great feeling to be privy to that,
0:48:02 > 0:48:07to see it, and to see the mix of colours
0:48:07 > 0:48:09who were there
0:48:09 > 0:48:16putting themselves on the block, to say, "I am who I am."
0:48:17 > 0:48:19That's why they came.
0:48:19 > 0:48:21That's why I went.
0:48:21 > 0:48:28# I've
0:48:28 > 0:48:33# Been buked... #
0:48:33 > 0:48:34By late afternoon,
0:48:34 > 0:48:37John Lewis had finished making changes to his speech
0:48:37 > 0:48:40and he was ready to be introduced by A Philip Randolph.
0:48:42 > 0:48:47I have the pleasure to present to this great audience
0:48:47 > 0:48:49brother John Lewis.
0:48:52 > 0:48:55I went straight to the podium
0:48:55 > 0:48:57and I looked straight ahead.
0:48:57 > 0:49:00I said, "This is it."
0:49:00 > 0:49:02And I went for it.
0:49:02 > 0:49:06Hundreds and thousands of our brothers are not here
0:49:06 > 0:49:10for they are receiving starvation wages or no wages at all.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13The fact that John Lewis gave
0:49:13 > 0:49:16the second most talked about speech at that march
0:49:16 > 0:49:18that was unique for many reasons,
0:49:18 > 0:49:22among them little cultural things - he didn't use the phrase "negro",
0:49:22 > 0:49:24he said black people.
0:49:29 > 0:49:33We must get in this revolution and complete the revolution.
0:49:33 > 0:49:37For in the delta of Mississippi and southwest Georgia,
0:49:37 > 0:49:39in the black belts of Alabama,
0:49:39 > 0:49:42in Harlem, in Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia,
0:49:42 > 0:49:43and all over this nation,
0:49:43 > 0:49:48the black masses are on the march for jobs and freedom.
0:49:51 > 0:49:55# Lord, if you lead
0:49:55 > 0:49:59# Lord, if you lead your child
0:49:59 > 0:50:06# I cannot make it alone... #
0:50:13 > 0:50:17Finally, the man most people had come to hear...
0:50:17 > 0:50:19Dr Martin Luther King.
0:50:21 > 0:50:25It was the first time most Americans heard a complete King speech,
0:50:25 > 0:50:28it was televised from start to finish.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31Here you heard a whole speech in which he was speaking
0:50:31 > 0:50:33not just for the aims of black people,
0:50:33 > 0:50:36but for the destiny of American democracy.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39Five score years ago...
0:50:41 > 0:50:46..a great American in whose symbolic shadow we stand today...
0:50:48 > 0:50:52..signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55100 years later...
0:50:56 > 0:51:01..the negro still is not free.
0:51:09 > 0:51:13America has given the negro people a bad cheque,
0:51:13 > 0:51:17a cheque which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
0:51:19 > 0:51:21I was nine years old
0:51:21 > 0:51:25and from what I had gathered from the zeitgeist,
0:51:25 > 0:51:28from family members, my community,
0:51:28 > 0:51:30I knew that this moment
0:51:30 > 0:51:35was going to be a seminal moment for us.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights...
0:51:40 > 0:51:43..when will you be satisfied?
0:51:43 > 0:51:45We can never be satisfied
0:51:45 > 0:51:49as long as the negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors
0:51:49 > 0:51:51of police brutality.
0:51:51 > 0:51:56We can never be satisfied as long as...
0:51:56 > 0:52:01We all saw that there was no fear,
0:52:01 > 0:52:05we saw his value system,
0:52:05 > 0:52:11his point of view about us all as human creatures.
0:52:11 > 0:52:15Once we saw that in him,
0:52:15 > 0:52:18our instincts moved us closer.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21No, we are not satisfied
0:52:21 > 0:52:25and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like water
0:52:25 > 0:52:28and righteousness like a mighty stream.
0:52:32 > 0:52:37As he got to the end of his speech, Mahalia Jackson kept saying,
0:52:37 > 0:52:39"Tell them about the dream, Martin.
0:52:39 > 0:52:40"Tell them about the dream."
0:52:42 > 0:52:46I'm standing about 50 feet behind Dr King.
0:52:46 > 0:52:48And I watched his demeanour change.
0:52:48 > 0:52:52And I turned to the person next to me and I said,
0:52:52 > 0:52:54"These people don't know it,
0:52:54 > 0:52:56"but they're about ready to go to church."
0:52:58 > 0:53:00So even though
0:53:00 > 0:53:05we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow,
0:53:05 > 0:53:07I still have a dream.
0:53:08 > 0:53:12It is a dream deeply rooted in the American Dream.
0:53:13 > 0:53:15I have a dream.
0:53:16 > 0:53:19All of the speeches that he'd ever made
0:53:19 > 0:53:21came together in that one moment
0:53:21 > 0:53:25and the best of every speech was to be now revealed
0:53:25 > 0:53:29in the context of this great historical moment.
0:53:29 > 0:53:31I have a dream...
0:53:34 > 0:53:36..that my four little children...
0:53:37 > 0:53:39..will one day live in a nation
0:53:39 > 0:53:42where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin
0:53:42 > 0:53:45but by the content of their character.
0:53:45 > 0:53:47I have a dream today.
0:53:50 > 0:53:52Let freedom ring.
0:53:53 > 0:53:57From every mountainside, let freedom ring,
0:53:57 > 0:53:59and if America's to be a great nation
0:53:59 > 0:54:02this must become true.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
0:54:06 > 0:54:10Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
0:54:11 > 0:54:16Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi,
0:54:16 > 0:54:19from every mountainside, let freedom ring.
0:54:19 > 0:54:22And when this happens,
0:54:22 > 0:54:25when we let it ring from every village
0:54:25 > 0:54:29and every hamlet, from every state and every city,
0:54:29 > 0:54:35we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children,
0:54:35 > 0:54:38black men and white men, Jews and gentiles,
0:54:38 > 0:54:40Protestants and Catholics
0:54:40 > 0:54:44will be able to join hands and sing in the words
0:54:44 > 0:54:45of the old negro spiritual,
0:54:45 > 0:54:50free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty we are free at last!
0:55:03 > 0:55:07Being there is one of the highlights of my life.
0:55:08 > 0:55:13I felt clear about being an American
0:55:13 > 0:55:15and being a black American.
0:55:15 > 0:55:18What Dr King was saying
0:55:18 > 0:55:20was really so simple.
0:55:25 > 0:55:28Everything that has happened to me,
0:55:28 > 0:55:31my ability to be liberated,
0:55:31 > 0:55:34completely free,
0:55:34 > 0:55:36determining my own destiny,
0:55:36 > 0:55:38owning myself,
0:55:38 > 0:55:40happened because of that moment.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48The Kennedys were worried
0:55:48 > 0:55:53the very moment the march appeared as a realistic possibility.
0:55:55 > 0:56:00But after the big event, the leaders of the march go to the White House.
0:56:02 > 0:56:08This is a coming together of the black civil rights movement
0:56:08 > 0:56:10and the Kennedy administration.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15President Kennedy stood in the door to the Oval Office
0:56:15 > 0:56:19and he greeted each one of us, he shook our hands.
0:56:19 > 0:56:21One by one he said,
0:56:21 > 0:56:23"You did a good job, you did a good job."
0:56:23 > 0:56:30NINA SIMONE: I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free
0:56:30 > 0:56:32Ten hours after it began,
0:56:32 > 0:56:38the event that would change American politics for ever was over.
0:56:38 > 0:56:40As the crowds made their way back,
0:56:40 > 0:56:44the reverberations of that day would be felt all over the world.
0:56:44 > 0:56:46# And I should say
0:56:46 > 0:56:50# Say 'em loud, say 'em clear
0:56:50 > 0:56:54# For the whole round world to hear... #
0:56:54 > 0:56:57One of the things that King's dream makes clear
0:56:57 > 0:57:01is that once we start dreaming of a better world
0:57:01 > 0:57:03and start making that better world,
0:57:03 > 0:57:08things that we thought were impossible become possible.
0:57:08 > 0:57:10And that is an inspiration.
0:57:10 > 0:57:14# I wish you could know
0:57:14 > 0:57:17# What it means to be me
0:57:17 > 0:57:21# Then you'd see and agree
0:57:21 > 0:57:25# That every man should be free
0:57:25 > 0:57:29# I wish I could give
0:57:29 > 0:57:34# All I'm longin' to give
0:57:34 > 0:57:37# I wish I could live
0:57:37 > 0:57:42# Like I'm longing to live
0:57:42 > 0:57:46# I wish I could do
0:57:46 > 0:57:50# All the things that I can do... #
0:57:50 > 0:57:54This man who was never elected to any public office,
0:57:54 > 0:57:58is now standing more than 30 feet tall
0:57:58 > 0:58:02between President Jefferson and President Lincoln.
0:58:06 > 0:58:09And sometimes when I'm flying out of Washington,
0:58:09 > 0:58:15I look down and see the monument of Martin Luther King Jnr.
0:58:17 > 0:58:20It says something about the man
0:58:20 > 0:58:23and it says something about this country,
0:58:23 > 0:58:28the distance we've come and the progress we've made.
0:58:28 > 0:58:31# And I sing cos I know, yeah
0:58:31 > 0:58:34# I know how it feels
0:58:34 > 0:58:38# I know how it feels to be free
0:58:38 > 0:58:40# Yeah, yeah... #
0:58:43 > 0:58:46Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd