The March on Washington 1963

Did you ever wonder what happened in the Civil Right era? I wrote my report on the March on Washington, and it changed everything for every African American in every corner of the world.

         The March on Washington occurred in the summer of 1963, shortly after the Birmingham Campaign, which was an effort to break segregation in the largest urban areas. Over 200,000 African Americans marched to Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I have a Dream" speech on August 28, 1963. As a result, the March on Washington is credited for creating a political platform for African Americans to finally have the Civil and Voting Rights in the mid-1960s.

          In 1963, racism was everywhere. Very few white and black got along. They even had separate washrooms, drinking fountains, schools, and stores. If you were an African American on the bus with Caucasians and you were sitting down and they weren’t, you had to give up your seat and move to the back. Blacks were beaten by White citizens and even the police, and they never got justice. Even judges were racist. Blacks couldn’t even vote, nor could they work, and they were getting fed up. In the winter of 1962, Martin Luther King Jr. asked President John F. Kennedy to release a new, fair Emancipation Proclamation, but the president disagreed and caused the March on Washington to begin.

          In the summer of 1961, a man named Philip Randolph decided to get 100,000 African Americans to circle around the Capitol, but some disagreed due to the fact that they feared what the government would do in retaliation. But, Franklin D. Roosevelt ended up signing the Executive Order 8802 which forced racist whites to open the job market to black people. Since the job market was now opened, Randolph decided the march wasn’t necessary. On August 28, 1963, 200,000+ demonstrators marched to Washington to Lincoln’s Monument for the 3^rd anniversary of Brown V. Board of Education and they had a prayer pilgrimage, and it is also the same day King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.

          As a result, King met up with President Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson at the white house where they discussed a need for two parties to support civil rights. Even though it wasn’t passed until President Kennedy died, which was the Civil Rights of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965.

New Neighborhood Transitions

Hey, my name is Ivory. A lot of interesting things have happened in my 17 years of living, but when I was about 10, things got interesting.

            When I moved to 42^nd and Campbell I was mad because I didn’t want to move, I preferred my old neighborhood and friends. Anyways, my mom, her husband and I moved to the southwest side of Chicago. I was surrounded by people I didn’t know. I was a very friendly and kind little girl, and thought it would be a piece of cake to make new friends. Boy was I wrong.

            I started my first day of school the next day. I walked into my new class and all of the kids kept whispering. I ignored them, and walked to the teacher’s desk. “Are you the new student?” The teacher asked. “Yes ma’am, where can I sit?” She pointed to an empty desk next to this girl named Samantha. The other kids continued whispering. I introduced myself to Samantha.

            “Hi, I’m Ivory. Ms. Filakowski already told me your name was Samantha?” She looked at me and smiled. “Yes it is, nice to meet you. Do you want to sit with me in lunch?” I shook my head yes and smiled. I was happy that I’d made a new friend. As the day went on, I became irritated. All the kids except for Samantha were so racist. One boy even called me an N-Head! Who does that? I decided not to let it get to me.  I’d dealt with racism before, so it wasn’t a big deal to me.

            Anyway, Sam and I were calling each other best friends ever since my second day at my new school, and she’d invited me to her birthday party while we were in lunch. I knew my mom would let me go, so after school I called her from Sam’s cell phone. She was so lucky; I didn’t even own a house phone! However, both my mom and step dad had cell phones. What did I have? I had my thumb and pinky to make a pretend phone. When I spoke to my mom she told me I could go, so we jumped up and down squealing and screaming.

            Two days later, my mom had walked me to Sam’s house. I’d bought her ten different nail polishes, mascara, eye liner, and an Aeropostale outfit. Before we walked into Sam’s house, I looked at my mom. “What?!” I gave her a pleading look. “Mom, please don’t walk me all the way in, it’s not cool!” She looked at me as if I had snakes for hair. “Child, I don’t know this lady! I’m coming in or we’re going home.” I huffed and puffed and agreed. I was glad I did though, because I ended up needing her.

            When we walked in, Sam’s mom greeted us at the door. She led me to Sam’s room and her and my mom walked to the kitchen. When I opened Sam’s bedroom door, I saw the twins Layla and Fatima. I stared hard at the twins like I wanted to punch them. They were always being mean, they were always calling me names because I was African American, and they thought they were better because they were Hispanic. Samantha knew I had an issue with them. I thought to myself, why would she invite them knowing I didn’t like them?

            I went up to her, gave her the gifts and hugged her. I wished her a happy birthday as she began to introduce me to the twins. “Ivory, this is Layla and Fatima, guys, this is Ivory.” They just waved a hand at me, as if they were dismissing me. I felt anger boil inside of me, but it was Sam’s birthday so I had to behave myself. An hour into the party, Fatima made a bell noise. Then, all heck broke loose.

            “Peasant Ivory!” Fatima yelled. They all began to laugh, including Samantha. I looked at her with pure hurt in my eyes. Then, out of nowhere, I felt something going around my neck, and I began to freak out. While swinging my arms and legs everywhere, I think I hit someone because I heard a scream. “HANG THE N-WORD!” I heard one of the twins yell. I yelled at her, hit her, and then I hit Sam. I ran out the room and cried on my mom’s lap. “What’s wrong?” She asked. I just shook my head and didn’t say a word. My mother still doesn’t know what happened to this day. When we got home, I crawled into bed and cried myself to sleep. This is why I never, ever want friends again.