March on Washington

The March on Washington was a pivotal point in history for African Americans. This protest occurred in August 1963 with the participation of an estimate of 250,000 brave Americans.  These protestors stopped in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. The protestors directed their protest on oppression and unfairness that African Americans were subjected to throughout the entire United States.  My Grandmother, Gwendolyn Jordan and Emily Nelson participated in the March on Washington. I believe the bad conditions of the school supplies and the daily racism fueled my grandmother and her classmates determination to ensure they were involved in the March on Washington.

The kids that wanted to go to the March had to pay their way, a total of $60.00 cover all the expenses of the trip. Mrs. Jordan talked about having to walk door to door and asking the adults for monetary donation. She remembers walking blocks through Rutledge Avenue in Charleston. She received donations from black and white adults around town. The train the participants rode in was called the “Freedom Train.” This train was apart of the Amtrak train system, and it was reserve only for the March of Washington participants. The train picked up students from Miami, Florida all the way to Washington, D.C. The charleston students boarded the train at nine in the morning and they made it to D.C. at seven that night, she believes the trip was around nine hours. When I asked about the supervision during the trip, Mrs. Jordan said that there were not a lot of parents on the trip, because their employers threaten to fire them if they participated in the march. Due to this, high school juniors and seniors were the group leaders over the kids. Since over 200,000 people participated in the march, I asked her if she was ever worried she would lose her classmates, because they did not have cell phones back then; therefore, they had no way in contacting anyone they knew. She told me she was not because they constantly made sure they were standing and marching with their classmates beside them. She also remembers vividly how hot she was while she protested that day because she eventually passed out from heat exhaustion. Mrs. Nelson also attended the March, but she traveled from New York to participate. With both women, they came back home the same day.