Where do we go from here?
This year the Amistad Research Center and Dillard University will host a 60th annual commemoration of the historic March on Washington led by Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. The "60th Anniversary of the March on Washington: Where do we go from here?" will start on August 26 with a Louisiana Diary Documentary Screening and Q&A and finish on August 28 with a Student Engagement Program.
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom occurred on August 28, 1963. The protest involved 250,000 people marching and gathering in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
The participants felt they were still struggling to find equal-opportunity jobs that paid a livable wage even after emancipation.
The mistreatment and racism towards Black people was almost undeniable as the Jim Crow era was still in full effect.
This event led to King's famous "I Have A Dream" speech that raises hairs when recited to this day.
The Amistad Research Center has been a part of history while holding onto pieces of it.
Their center was created to protect, collect and educate all who come by sharing information on civil rights, race relations, the African Diaspora, and American ethnic and race history. This is done by housing thousands of books, articles, photographs, individual moving images, sound recordings, manuscripts, monographs, dissertations, and more.
The Amistad Research Center and Dillard Center for Racial Justice have partnered with other community organizations to showcase this free three-day educational honor. The institutions encourage members of the area to join Dillard students in the conversation of equality and what that looks like today.
Saturday is the start of the commemoration in order present to viewers how members of the Congress of Racial Equality (C.O.R.E.) conducted voter registration education from July 1963 to August 1963 through an old but familiar Louisiana. It will be from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Georges Auditorium on Dillard University's campus.
This includes comments from two New Orleans, Ronnie Moore, the Louisiana Field Secretary for C.O.R.E., and Doratha Smith-Simmons, a C.O.R.E. volunteer.
On Sunday, the programs extend their open arms to all clergy members and citizens of all religions to join them for service from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Lawless Memorial Chapel Chaplain hosted by Rev. Herbert Brisbon.
This was an intentional act to depict what the real March on Washington was like. Hundreds of people from different backgrounds, ethnicities, ages and faiths came together for a common cause and understanding of simple human freedoms that they felt should be afforded to all.
The Amistad Research Center and Dillard Center for Racial Justice plans to remind the community that the world should all be still doing the same.
To cap the commemoration off, the Dillard Center for Racial Justice will host a panel discussion featuring local Black entrepreneurs from various industries on Monday 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Georges Auditorium on Dillard University's campus.
Monday's final presentation will present the efforts of our ancestors and why history has made great strides for today.
All scheduled activities are free and questions should be directed to Kathe Hambrick at khambrick@tulane.edu or Dr. Ashraf Esmail at aesmail@dillard.edu.
