By Deutsche Welle
Aug 25, 2023, 22:33 PM EDT
US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with the family of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the historic March on Washington, where the rights leader civilians gave his acclaimed “I have a dream” speech.
That meeting will take place six decades after the one held in the Oval Office of the White House by then-President John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) with King before the first March on Washington.
Biden is also scheduled to speak later that afternoon at a White House reception to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, created at the request of Kennedy and whose goal is to advocate for justice and racial equality in America.
Civil Rights Law
The 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom is considered one of the most significant demonstrations in the United States and a milestone in the fight for racial justice.
That protest, attended by 250,000 people, served to pressure the US Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act in 1964 to prohibit racial discrimination and segregation, as well as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to ban barriers for African-Americans to vote.
King’s eldest son, Martin Luther King III, and other civil rights leaders are scheduled to march in the nation’s capital this Saturday in front of the Lincoln Memorial, honoring President Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865) and where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous speech to demand the end of racism in the United States.
The organizers of tomorrow’s march estimate that some 75,000 people will attend the meeting.