White House to meet with the family of Martin Luther King Jr. to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington
The president and vice president will host the celebration on Monday, Aug. 28, the anniversary of the historic event where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris plan to meet with the family of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and organizers of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on Monday, the 60th anniversary of the historic event.
It has taken weeks for the White House to figure out how they wanted to mark this larger-than-life anniversary of an event that drew a then-historic crowd. In 1963, an estimated 250,000 people stood before the Lincoln Memorial to hear speeches of freedom and empowerment, including King’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech.
The Aug. 28 meeting will follow a commemorative gathering Saturday led by the head of the National Action Network, Rev. Al Sharpton, and Martin Luther King III, the eldest son of the late iconic civil rights leader. Steve Benjamin, head of the Office of Public Engagement, will represent the White House at the Saturday event.
In keeping with the White House’s celebration of one of the most memorable moments in American history, the president will host a reception Monday evening to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, an organization created at the request of President John F. Kennedy to aid in the fight for civil rights legislation around the country.
Monday’s activities are part of what the Biden-Harris administration says are continuing efforts to promote equity and fight against the racial hate that still exists 60 years after the march.
Under the Biden administration’s equal opportunity umbrella, the White House is touting a record-low Black unemployment rate of 4.7% that happened under its watch, providing $7 billion in resources to HBCUs, as well as the executive order Biden signed on police accountability after Senate Republicans rejected the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
Dr. Bernice King, the youngest child of the slain civil rights leader, recently talked to theGrio about the significance of the March on Washington, offering a counterargument to those who say things haven’t changed enough over the last 60 years.
“I always say to people, look very closely. We’re not exactly where we were. In ‘63, when they went to the march, there were very few Black voters. There were very few Black elected officials across the nation. And so we were on the outside,” King said. “Now, we’re on the inside fighting against those things versus back then; we didn’t have inside advocates, inside access.”
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