On August 28, 1963, a quarter of a million people of all races, religions, and nationalities gathered before the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Answering the call of a broad coalition of civil rights, labor, and religious leaders, they came by bus, train, automobile, and on foot to demand an end to racial segregation and discrimination in the United States and equal opportunity in employment. One hundred years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, Americans of African descent were still struggling for their rights and enduring daily discrimination, beatings, jailings, fire hoses, cattle prods, and assassination. The nonviolent protest, bringing together famous figures and ordinary men, women, and children from across the country, became the largest rally for civil and human rights in the nation's history to that time, was televised around the world, and shook the nation's conscience. Although many associate the March with the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech, the day also reflected the tireless efforts of countless unsung people, including participants from Annapolis who boarded buses carrying the hopes of others who could not attend.
