The Online Reflector

The “Remembering the March on Washington”  symposium held on Sept. 26 was the first of the department of history and political science’s outreach events organized by Assistant Professor of History James Williams and Assistant Professor of  History Jamal Ratchford.

Assistant Professor of History Jamal Ratchford speaks about the factors that led up to the Aug. 28, 1963, March on Washington during the department of history and political science’s first outreach symposium.

The symposium was held before an audience of varying majors and ages. By the time the lecture began, most of the seats were filled, and latecomers were forced to stand.
“The goal of [the] event [was] really to offer a historical perspective on the March on Washington and, at the same time, try to convey to the larger student body the significance of it,” Williams said. “My personal motivation was, for one, to increase some outreach to the students who only normally get an experience of history in their regular intro-level class.”
Ratchford opened the talk by discussing the events leading up to the March on Washington, such as economic injustice, lynchings and segregation.
Ratchford talked about the marches that had come before the Aug. 28, 1963, march. Among them was the march for the desegregation of the defense industry in 1941, organized by A. Philip Randolph. In 1957,  another march was organized to commemorate the three-year anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, which said that segregation of public schools violated the 14th Amendment and was therefore unconstitutional.
The March on Washington featured speakers in addition to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“This was bigger than King. King was the face of it, but it was bigger than him,” Ratchford said.
Assistant Professor of Sociology Jim Wolfe, an expert in the field of civil religion, spoke after Ratchford. He focused on President John Kennedy’s take on the Civil Rights Movement and The March on Washington.
After reading an essay from talk show host Tavis Smiley on the subject of King’s true legacy and Kennedy’s role in the march, Wolfe offered his rebuttal. Wolfe explained that while the televised images of protesters being sprayed with fire hoses in Birmingham bothered Kennedy, he upheld the law in his role as chief executor.
As a result, Wolfe argued that “Kennedy was more powerful dead than alive. In death he achieved mythic status as a martyr.”
“Dr. King was a prophet; presidents are not prophets,” Wolfe said.
Four members of the Pre-Law Student Association spoke after Wolfe. They discussed the laws that were passed as a direct result of the March on Washington.
President of the PLSA Claudia White talked about how  the U.S. Supreme Court cases of Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education set a legal framework for the grievances expressed through the March on Washington.
The evening closed with a brief question-and-answer session and words of advice from Ratchford.
“The Civil Rights Movement was a series of local movements with people like you or me … It’s problematic to wait for a messiah,” he said.
The next symposium hosted by the department of history and political science will take place on Oct. 21 and focus on the importance of studying history.  University of  Indianapolis President Robert Manuel, who was a history major in college, will speak at the event, along with several faculty members and current students.