Reel

The March On Washington

The March On Washington
Clip: 429039_1_1
Year Shot: 1963 (Actual Year)
Audio: Yes
Video: B/W
Tape Master: 1714
Original Film: 036-071-01
HD: N/A
Location: Washington DC
Timecode: 00:36:23 - 00:42:08

Beginning of clip is damaged. It cannot be improved when mastering. The March On Washington. Just one hundred years after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation to free the slaves, 200,000 march in Washington to rally for civil rights. In an orderly gathering at the Lincoln Memorial they hear the 10 top leaders of the movement urge Congress to pass the Civil Rights Bill to end racial inequity. They call for "Action Now" - the theme of the monstrous rally. None of the disorder that authorities feared developed - it seemed partly like an outing, partly Sunday school picnic, partly political - it was a serious gathering that was tinged with good-humor as if the demonstrators had finally found strength in each other. As a pictorial record of history nothing more compelling has ever been filmed. Washington DC Lincoln Memorial. MCUS - Train pulling into the train station, two railroad men climbing down off the train. MCUS - People getting off the train, mostly African-American and Whites. CUS - People walking peacefully and it looks like their singing. MCUS - A long row of buses driving down a Washington DC street, throngs standing road side. CUS - Bus driving by and in the background the Capitol Building. MCUS - People disembarking from the busses. MLS - Throngs of people gathering and in the background is the Washington Monument. MCUS - Someone is holding up a banner reading ; Pennsylvania Marches for Jobs & Freedom. CUS - Many faces in the crowd all creeds. Aerial; shot - Washington Monument, people looking like tiny ants. MLS - Camera panning the crowd. MS - Marchers holding many signs. MCUS - Roy Wilkins on the left and A. Phillip Randolph. CUS - Rev. Martin Luther King. MCUS - Walter Reuther, head of the auto workers. MCUS - Camera focuses on the feet of the marchers. MLS - Washington Monument. Aerial shot - Mass of people. CUS - Demonstrators marching into the camera singing: "We Shall Overcome". MS - Demonstrators gathering in front of the Lincoln Memorial, a sign reading; Full Equality ... Human Dignity ... All Americans ... Now. Low Aerial - People, thousands around the pond of the Washington Monument. An overview shot - Lincoln Memorial steps, thousands of people. Back shot - People facing the Lincoln Memorial. LS - The mass of people and camera zooms in on a young guy who perched himself on the top of a tree holding a sign. Back shot - Thongs gather in front of the Lincoln Memorial. MCUS - Rev. Martin Luther King standing at the podium. MS - Looking through the trees you see the White House. Inside White House - President Kennedy, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and Martin Luther King and other dignitaries posing for the camera. OHV - From the Lincoln Memorial overlooking the reflecting pond with the Washington Monument in the background. A shot from the top steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Martin Luther King famous speech; "I Have A Dream" over looking the throngs. "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up live out the true meanings of it's creed, We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal. I have a dream, that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream."