History in the Service of Solidarity
Image: The “Four Spirits” sculpture: a memorial to the four little girls who died in the 16th Street Church bombing in 1963: Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carolyn Robertson & Cynthia Wesley. Sculpture by Elizabeth MacQueen .
For resources on the Birmingham Movement, click here .
Resources
The 16th Street Baptist Church website.
Birmingham Public Library: Online digital collection of photos and news clippings about the bombing.
Speak Lisa : the website of Lisa McNair, sister of Denise McNair, who was killed in the bombing.
Documentaries
Angels of Change .
The History Channel: Remembering the Birmingham Church Bombing .
Spike Lee: Four Little Girls .
Books
Christopher M. Hamlin: Behind the Stained Glass: A History of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church .
Doug Jones: Bending Toward Justice: The Birmingham Church Bombing that Changed the Course of Civil Rights .
Carolyn McKinstry (with Denise George): While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement .
Lisa McNair: Dear Denise: Letters to the Sister I Never Knew .
Diane McWhorter: Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama: The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution .
Tracy Snipe (With Sarah Collins Rudolph): The 5th Little Girl: Soul Survivor of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing .
T. K. Thorne: Last Chance for Justice: How Relentless Investigators Uncovered New Evidence Convicting the Birmingham Church Bombers .
Articles
Char Adams: The two forgotten Black boys who died the day of the Birmingham church bombing: Johnny Robinson and Virgil Ware were killed in the aftermath of the Birmingham church bombing in 1963 .
Charles M. Blow: What Does America Owe the Victims of Racial Terrorism?
Joseph D. Bryant: A national salute: Congressional Gold Medal awarded as honor to ‘four little girls,’ families .
Andrew Cohen: The Speech That Shocked Birmingham the Day After the Church Bombing: Appalled by the murder of four little girls, a white Alabaman spoke out against racism—and was forever shunned for it .
CRMvet.org: The Birmingham Church Bombing .
DeNeen L. Brown: 60 years ago, Alabama church bombing killed 4 girls and catalyzed a movement .
Alan Collins: ‘Four Spirits’ sculpture unveiled to the public .
Neil Genzlinger: Thomas Blanton, Who Bombed a Birmingham Church, Dies at 82: He was the last survivor of three Klansmen who were convicted, years later, in the killing four black girls in 1963, a case that was a turning point in the civil rights struggle .
Virginia Martin: Chris McNair, Former Local Official and Father of One of the ‘4 Little Girls,’ Dies at 93 .
Diane McWhorter:
J.R. Moehringer: A Child Lost to Racial Hate Lost Again in Birmingham .
Kara Nelson: 60 years after 4 little girls were killed in a KKK attack on the 16th Street Baptist Church, memories of the lives that were taken live on .
Brian Pia: Missing remains of 1963 church bombing victim believed to be found .
Matt Schudel: John Cross Jr., Pastor at Bombed Church, Dies at 82 .
Amy Waddell: That which might have been .
The Washington Post, September 16, 1963: Six Dead After Church Bombing: Blast Kills Four Children; Riots Follow; Two Youths Slain; State Reinforces Birmingham Police .
Wikipedia: 16th Street Baptist Church bombing .
Gary Younge: American civil rights: the Welsh connection. In 1963, a racist bomb attack on an Alabama church that killed four black girls prompted a Welsh artist to make a profound gesture .
Zinn Education Project: Sept. 15, 1963: 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing .
Video & Audio
Code Switch:
Ketanji Brown Jackson: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks at 16th Street Baptist Church commemoration .
Martin Luther King: Eulogy for the Young Victims .
NPR:
Joan Trumpauer Mulholland: A former Freedom Rider describes what it was like walking among the rubble of the 16th Avenue Baptist Church .
Sarah Collins Rudolph:
Books
Charles Euchner: Nobody Turn Me Around: A People’s History of the 1963 March on Washington .
William P. Jones: The March on Washington: Jobs, Freedom, and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights .
The Songs & Speeches of the March
Songs:
Camilla Williams: National Anthem. (Audio .)
Joan Baez: We shall overcome. (Video .)
Mahalia Jackson: “I’ve been buked & I’ve been scorned,” and “How I got over.” (Video .)
Speeches, listed in the order given.
Preliminary speech, Josephine Baker. (Audio , article. )
Invocation, by Archbishop Patrick O’Boyle. (Text .)
Opening remarks by A. Philip Randolph, March Director. (Audio , text .)
Speech by Walter Reuther – UAW, AFL–CIO.
Speech by Roy Wilkins – NAACP. (Video )
Speech by John Lewis – SNCC. (Video , text , original unrevised text .)
Tribute to negro Women/brief comments by Daisy Bates. (Text .)
Speech by Eugene Carson Blake – United Presbyterian Church and the National Council of Churches.
Speech by Floyd McKissick – CORE.
Speech by Whitney Young – National Urban League. (Audio .)
Speech by Mathew Ahmann – National Catholic Conference.
Speech by Rabbi Joachim Prinz – American Jewish Congress. (Video ).
Martin Luther King: I Have a Dream : video , audio with transcript , graphic multimedia version .
Bayard Rustin reads the demands of the march. (Audio ; text of the demands .)
A. Philip Randolph reads the march’s pledge. (Audio , 4:26 minutes in.)
Closing benediction by Benjamin Mays. (Partial video , audio 7:08 minutes in).
Primary Sources
Primary source collections:
Flyer for the March on Washington .
Demands of the March on Washington .
Bayard Rustin: The Meaning of the March on Washington .
Malcolm X: The Farce on Washington .
CNN: Collection of color photos from the march .
Educational Radio Network coverage of the March on Washington .
Videos
Democracy Now! Civil Rights Pioneer Gloria Richardson, 91, on How Women Were Silenced at 1963 March on Washington .
Smithsonian Magazine: An Oral History of the March on Washington: Americans who marched on Washington 60 years ago under a blazing sun recall the day they were part of a turning point in history .
The U.S. National Archives: The March in Washington .
The Washington Post: An oral history of the March on Washington, 60 years after MLK’s dream .
Articles
Timothy Bella: At 92, MLK’s speechwriter confronts a new ‘insane’ moment in U.S. history .
Jamelle Bouie: The Forgotten Radicalism of the March on Washington .
Gillian Brockell: At the 1963 March on Washington, civil rights leaders asked John Lewis to tone his speech down .
Kyle Brooks: The Morning After: Black Women and the March on Washington .
Melanie Campbell & Rebekah Caruthers: These Black Women Were Behind The March On Washington .
CNN: Kennedy White House had jitters ahead of 1963 March on Washington .
Code Switch: What The March On Washington Called For, And What We Got .
Julia Conley & John Light: Meet the 1963 March on Washington Organizers .
CRMvet.org: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom .
Joshua Clark Davis: We Knew the FBI Spied on the March on Washington. They Weren’t the Only Ones. Police from as far away as Alabama were watching .
Ashley Farmer: The Long History of Black Women’s Exclusion in Historic Marches in Washington .
Eric Foner: Martin Luther King’s Dream at 60: King offered Americans the choice between acting in accordance with the constitution and resistance—often violent—to change. In many ways, we face the same choice today .
David Garrow: The Long March .
Jessica Goldstein: March on Washington had one female speaker: Josephine Baker .
David Greenberg: How John Lewis Saved the March on Washington .
Robert Greene II: On The Sixtieth Anniversary of the March on Washington .
John Leland: The 1963 March on Washington Changed America. Its Roots Were in Harlem .
MLK Institute profile of the March on Washington .
Marc H. Morial: 60 years after March on Washington, America needs honest talk on racial equality: Overt racial discrimination has been outlawed, but the economic demands of the march — for jobs and a livable minimum wage — are unmet .
NAACP profile of the March on Washington .
The New Yorker: Dream Songs: The Music of the March on Washington .
NPR:
Emily Olson: Thousands march to mark the 60th anniversary of MLK’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech .
Rosanita Ratcliff: How to Honor the Environmental Legacy of the March on Washington: Both Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and A. Philip Randolph passionately tied the fight against racism to the larger war for economic opportunity, workers’ rights, and environmental justice .
Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff: During the 1963 March on Washington, these Black girls were locked up in Georgia .
Michael E. Ruane: MLK’s ‘dream’ speech goes on display at Smithsonian for 60th anniversary .
Jennifer Scanlon: Where Were the Women in the March on Washington? How men in the Civil Rights movement erased women from its ranks .
Ellie Silverman: King family returning for March on Washington’s 60th anniversary .
Chloe H. Smith: Finding Women at the 1963 March on Washington .
SNCC Digital Gateway profile of the March on Washington .
SNCC Legacy Project: In commemoration of the March On Washington – Reflecting on 60 Years .
Brooke Sopelsa & Jay Valle: Civil rights leader’s legacy remembered on March on Washington’s 60th anniversary: The 1963 march wouldn’t have been possible without Black gay activist Bayard Rustin .
Matthew Taub: Sold: Papers From the Planning of the 1963 March on Washington. They tell a ground-level story of how peaceful movements led to social change, and how much remains to be done .
Krissah Thompson: In March on Washington, white activists were largely overlooked but strategically essential .
The Washington Post: Celebrities who joined the March on Washington .
Related Resources
Video & Audio
Documentary: Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin .
Feature film: Rustin .
Interview with the director of Rustin , George C. Wolfe, on MSNBC: The man behind the March on Washington .
Interview with Walter Naegle (Rustin’s partner).
Making Gay History podcast episode on Bayard Rustin .
NPR: Remembering Bayard Rustin: The Man Behind the March on Washington .
Primary Sources
FBI files on Rustin .
Bayard Rustin (audio & video):
Bayard Rustin (writings):
Books
Jervis Anderson: Bayard Rustin: Troubles I’ve Seen .
John D’Emilio: Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin .
Michael G. Long (editor): Bayard Rustin: A Legacy of Protest and Politics .
Jerald Podair: Bayard Rustin: American Dreamer .
Bayard Rustin:
Children’s Books
Jacqueline Houtman, Walter Naegle, Michael G. Long: Troublemaker for Justice: The Story of Bayard Rustin, the Man Behind the March on Washington .
Bea Jackson & Michael G. Long: Unstoppable: How Bayard Rustin Organized the 1963 March on Washington .
Byron McCray, Rob Sanders, & Carole Boston Weatherford: A Song for the Unsung: Bayard Rustin, the Man Behind the 1963 March on Washington .
Articles
Black Past: Bayard Rustin entry .
Lynn Burnett: The Montgomery Bus Boycott: The Full Story .
Nancy Cutler: Bayard Rustin Way: Nyack street named for ‘out and proud’ civil rights legacy .
Mark E. Dixon: Bayard Rustin’s Civil Rights Legacy Began with Grandmother Julia Rustin .
Robert Drayton: The partner of the gay Civil Rights activist and organizer of the March on Washington shares his side of the story .
Kerry Eleveld: Obama, Bayard Rustin, and the New LGBT Civil-Rights Movement .
Fellowship of Reconciliation: Bayard Rustin Posthumously Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama .
Nishani Frazier: The FBI and the Mischaracterization of Bayard Rustin .
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.: Who Designed the March on Washington?
Brigit Katz: Gay Civil Rights Leader Bayard Rustin Posthumously Pardoned in California: The openly gay Rustin was convicted during the 1950s under laws targeting LGBTQ individuals .
MLK Institute profile .
Thaddeus Morgan: Why MLK’s Right-Hand Man, Bayard Rustin, Was Nearly Written Out of History .
NPR: In Newly Found Audio, A Forgotten Civil Rights Leader Says Coming Out ‘Was An Absolute Necessity’ .
Daniel Perlstein: The dead end of despair: Bayard Rustin, the 1968 New York school crisis, and the struggle for racial justice .
Prison Culture: Bayard Rustin, the First ‘Freedom Rides,’ and Prison .
Quaker Info profile of Rustin .
Robert Samuels: For Bayard Rustin’s partner, an effort to preserve legacy .
SNCC Digital: Profile of Bayard Rustin, with original documents .
Don Thompson: California pardons gay civil rights leader in new initiative .
Denise Oliver Velez: In Memorium: Brother Bayard .
The Washington Post: Obituary of Bayard Rustin .
Wikipedia: Bayard Rustin entry .
See Also:
Resources on the March on Washington Movement, 1941-1946 .
Resources on the 1963 March on Washington .
Resources on Martin Luther King .
Books
Cornelius L. Bynum: A. Philip Randolph and the Struggle for Civil Rights .
Andrew E. Kersten: A. Philip Randolph: A Life in the Vanguard .
Andrew E. Kersten & Clarence Lang: Reframing Randolph: Labor, Black Freedom, and the Legacies of A. Philip Randolph .
Andrew E. Kersten & David Lucander: For Jobs and Freedom: Selected Speeches and Writings of A. Philip Randolph .
David Lucander: Winning the War for Democracy: The March on Washington Movement, 1941-1946 .
Cynthia Taylor: A. Philip Randolph: The Religious Journey of an African American Labor Leader .
Articles
William H. Adams: Review of “A. Philip Randolph and the Struggle for Civil Rights .”
AFL-CIO entry .
Biography.com entry .
Jamelle Bouie: What A. Philip Randolph Knew About Jobs and Freedom .
Howard Brick: The Other March on Washington: As Nazism was challenged abroad, A. Philip Randolph led an uncompromising campaign for democracy at home .
David Cochran: The Lessons of A. Philip Randolph’s Life for Racial Justice and Labor Activists Today .
Peter Dreier: A. Philip Randolph Was Once “the Most Dangerous Negro in America ”.
Michael E. Hill: Who Was A. Philip Randolph?
MLK Institute entry .
Paul Prescod: You Should Know More About A. Philip Randolph, One of America’s Greatest Socialists .
Rosanita Ratcliff: How to Honor the Environmental Legacy of the March on Washington: Both Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and A. Philip Randolph passionately tied the fight against racism to the larger war for economic opportunity, workers’ rights, and environmental justice .
The Washington Post: A. Philip Randolph Dies at 90 .
Wikipedia entry .
Video & Audio
10,000 Men named George
Biography: A. Philip Randolph .
Crash Course Black American History: Randolph, Rustin, & the Origins of the March on Washington .
C-SPAN: Sleeping Car Porters and Civil Rights .
JFK Library: John Lewis on A. Philip Randolph and JFK .
A. Philip Randolph:
Opening remarks at the 1963 March on Washington: Audio , text .
A. Philip Randolph reads the march’s pledge. (Audio , 4:26 minutes in.)
WGN News: The National A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum .
See Also:
Resources on the March on Washington Movement, 1941-1946 .
Resources on the 1963 March on Washington .
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