Martin Luther King Jr. was the last of many speakers at
the August 28, 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Deputy Director
of the March Bayard Rustin spoke
first sharing the 8 demands of the Marchers. Demands 6 and 7 spoke to the job
situation in 1963 with strong parallel's to 2013. Six, “we demand that every person in
this nation, black or white, be given training and work with dignity to defeat
unemployment and automation. [Seven,]
we demand that there be an increase in the national minimum wage so that men
may live in dignity. In 1963, the
country was in a slow, painful recovery from a recession that had begun in
1959. Jobs in manufacturing were shifting to automation, further decreasing the
opportunities for employment. Industries that had produced some economic
advancement for blacks in the past were slowly becoming non-existent.
Additionally, blacks were barred from advancement in skilled trades due to the
discriminatory practices of apprentice systems. The unemployment rate was 5.5%,
one and a half million blacks were unemployed, and, although blacks made up 11%
of the workforce, 22% were jobless. In response labor turned out for the march. “Five thousand members of the
Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union will travel in three special
trains, eighteen chartered buses and several auto caravans. The union said it
would supply box lunches and suppers…The International Ladies’ Garment Workers
Union said it would defray transportation and food costs to move several
thousand members to the capital from New York, Newark, Philadelphia, eastern
Pennsylvania, Long Island, Baltimore and other points,” The New York Times reported on August 27, 1963. The
paper went on to say, “each member will receive a free lunch box and free
chicken box dinner.”
Stories in the Series Feeding the Revolution with Related Recipes: http://www.foodasalens.com/search?q=Feeding+the+Revolution
Bayard Rustin’s Sandwich Brigade & the March on Washington: [Listen Now] http://wosu.org/2012/allsides/the-life-of-civil-rights-pioneer-bayard-rustin/