#Where was the i have a dream speech given tv#
In a television news career spanning six decades, the March on Washington stands out clearly in my memory as a day in which I was fortunate to play a role.Īs a producer-director for CBS News, my function was to direct the TV pool coverage for CBS, NBC and ABC.
#Where was the i have a dream speech given free#
Hopefully, one day, we'll all rise up in the words of the spiritual: "Free at last, free at last. This was so unusual - my mother never used language like this nor drew my attention to the television.įor a Caucasian boy in a racially segregated city, this was a powerful message. The March on Washington was being broadcast and my mother told me never to forget this day. It was a hot summer day and the television was on. I was an eight-year-old boy living in Pasadena, California. I remember that day in 1963 when Dr King made his famous speech in Washington DC. We still need to work for racial equality and the civil rights of all groups. 'Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last!'" are still ringing in my ears today.īorn and reared in Washington, DC, I have lived in Texas for the past 32 years.
Dr King's words, "When all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing. I made it to the grassy area to Dr King's left as he faced the crowd. I said, "Those people are for freedom and so am I" as I walked past him and came to within 50 yards of the Lincoln Memorial.
He was shocked to see me because we both graduated from a high school together in Maryland. I jumped off the sidewalk and came face to face with a national guardsman. Suddenly the crowd started cheering for the Mississippi delegation as they marched by. Skipping classes at American University, I took a bus to Constitution Avenue, and walked toward the Lincoln Memorial. I was there 30 yards to the left of Dr Martin Luther King as he gave his famous "I Have A Dream Speech."
My only regret is that I wasn't able to be there in person. We watched the "March On Washington" on TV, and recognized immediately the historical impact Dr King's speech would have. In the end, the peaceful outcome with so many in attendance was what amazed everyone. While I'd grown up in a segregated South, my mother had actively campaigned for civil rights all her life.Īs the march was being planned, newscasters and papers were preparing for riots and fights. I was white, 17 years old, and just beginning university in Michigan. The civil rights campaigner, who was assassinated in 1968, remains a figurehead for racial equality movements around the world. On 28 August 1963, he stood up at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC and told 250,000 euphoric supporters of his dream for racial equality.ĭr King's words are still instantly recognisable even four decades later. Martin Luther King is the author of one of history's most memorable speeches.
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