California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

House Resolution No. 22

Introduced by Assembly Member John A. Pérez

August 5, 2013

House Resolution No. 22—Relative to the March on Washington 50th anniversary.

WHEREAS, The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
on August 28, 1963, was one of the largest rallies for human rights
in United States history and called for civil and economic rights
for African Americans; and

WHEREAS, The March on Washington included musical
performances by Marian Anderson, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and
Mahalia Jackson, and a series of speeches by various civil rights
leaders, including Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish religious leaders,
as well as John Lewis and the only female speaker, Josephine
Baker, who introduced Rosa Parks during her remarks; and

WHEREAS, At the March on Washington, Reverend Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial,
delivered one of the most famous speeches in American history,
his “I Have a Dream” speech, advocating racial harmony and social
justice; and

WHEREAS, The March on Washington was organized by a
group of civil rights, labor, and religious organizations, under the
theme “jobs and freedom,” with an estimated 200,000 to 300,000
people participating; and

WHEREAS, The 1963 March on Washington played an
important part in the rapidly expanding civil rights movement, and
it also marked the 100th anniversary of the signing of the
Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln; and

WHEREAS, The March on Washington is widely credited with
helping to pave the way for passage of the Civil Rights Act of
1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965; and

WHEREAS, The March on Washington was planned and
initiated by A. Philip Randolph, the President of the Brotherhood
of Sleeping Car Porters -- the first predominantly black labor union.
He was also President of the Negro American Labor Council and
Vice President of the AFL-CIO; and

WHEREAS, In 1957, when schools in the South resisted school
integration following Brown v. Board of Education, Randolph
organized a Prayer Pilgrimage with Martin Luther King, Jr., and
in 1958 and 1959, Randolph organized youth marches for
integrated schools in Washington, D.C.; and

WHEREAS, Randolph inspired the “Freedom Budget,”
sometimes called the “Randolph Freedom Budget,” which aimed
to deal with the economic problems facing the African American
community, particularly workers and the unemployed; and

WHEREAS, Bayard Rustin was the chief organizer of the March
on Washington and instrumental in organizing its logistics. He
drafted off-duty police officers to be marshals and bus captains to
direct traffic, and scheduled the podium speakers; and

WHEREAS, Rustin was an American leader in social
movements for civil rights, nonviolence, and gay rights; and

WHEREAS, Rustin became a leading strategist and activist in
the civil rights movement from 1955 to 1968, helping to organize
the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to strengthen Martin
Luther King, Jr.’s leadership and promote the philosophy and
practice of nonviolent resistance, which he had observed while
working with Gandhi’s movement in India; and

WHEREAS, Despite the shunning of Rustin by some civil rights
leaders, when the moment came for the unprecedented March on
Washington, Randolph pushed Rustin forward as the logical choice
to organize it; and

WHEREAS, Commemorating the 1963 March on Washington
affirms our nation’s and our state’s commitment to achieving the
social and economic justice sought by the marchers and their vision
of social equality, opportunity, and racial harmony embodied in
the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s captivating “I Have A
Dream” speech; and

WHEREAS, In his remarks, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. exhorted, “Let freedom ring” across the nation and
concluded with, “And when this happens, when we allow freedom
to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet,
from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that
day 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 in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! Free
at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’ ”; now, therefore,
be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That
Wednesday, August 28, 2013, be observed as the official memorial
of the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs
and Freedom; and be it further

Resolved, That the sacrifices made by the leaders and
participants of the March on Washington 50 years ago are
recognized and honored for their role in the advancement of civil
rights and social justice in the United States; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.