Last Tuesday, I attended the Kalb Report on the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington. It was great.
The guests were are NAACP Chairman Emeritus Julian Bond, U.S. Congressman John Lewis, Ambassador Andrew Young, PBS NewsHour Anchor Gwen Ifill, Morehouse College President Dr. John Wilson, and journalist Dorothy Gilliam, the first African American woman hired as a reporter at The Washington Post (1961-1965).
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| From left to right Julian Bond, Dorothy Gilliam, Marvin Kalb and Gwen Ifill |
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| Dorothy Gilliam |
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| Congressman John Lewis |
One of the interesting things I learned was that some of the major organizers of the march were not all that keen on it. They thought it would take away from what they were doing in the south. But they changed their minds when they saw all the people pouring into Washington.
Another thing I learned was that protests and sit ins were set up early in the day. The reason for that was if the protest was going to be on the nightly news it had to be on a plan to Washington by 1 in the afternoon. If it wasn't the story wouldn't make the news. They viewed the three minutes they were on the networks each night as a way to educate the American people on what was going on and what African Americans were facing in the south.
John Lewis was late. He was at the White House introducing the president. As we waited for him to arrive there was a discussion on the impact segregation had on each of the panelists. Then once Lewis arrived the official program began. So we got an extra 25 minutes of discussion. It was great!
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