Organizers didn’t expect the March on Washington to draw the more than 250,000 protestors to the nation’s capitol on Aug. 28, 1963. Nevertheless, they came, assembled between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, and sounded a clarion for “jobs and freedom.”

A contingent from Memphis also converged in Washington and returned with renewed vigor, a sense of responsibility, and with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech echoing all around them.

On that same date in 1955, Emmett Till was murdered in Money, Miss., reportedly for whistling at a white woman. Fear permeated the African-American community. But Dr. King’s dream provided a semblance of hope for those from Memphis.

Forty-five years later, the March on Washington is still fresh on the minds of Joan Lee Nelson, Johnnie R. Turner and Maxine Smith, who’d hope change would happen sooner.

On Thursday, the anniversary of the historic march, the change they were looking for is being manifested in Sen. Barack Obama, the first African American to accept the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States.

But are Obama’s accomplishments enough to say that African Americans have made significant gains in America over this 40-plus year period? Nelson, Turner and Smith agree that there have been some successes, but disappointments as well.

‘Our young people need more’

“What woke me up to the world was when Emmett Till was murdered,” said Joan Lee Nelson, also pointing to the 400-year history of African-American plight. (Photos by Wiley Henry)

Joan Lee Nelson was just 16 years old when she made the historic journey to D.C. to protest what she believed was gross indignation against African Americans.

It was just by happenstance, she said, that someone from the NAACP suggested that a member of her family, known for their arrest record, should fill one of three vacant seats on the NAACP bus.

“The NAACP called to the house and said they had three extra seats on the bus and one of the Lees should go,” said Nelson, one of 14 children by Robert Edward Lee and Alversa Williams Lee.

“I was working in the summer as a part time secretary for Maxine Smith and was designated by my family to go to Washington, D.C., for the March on Washington.”

Though young and sprightly in 1963, Nelson wasn’t too young to get herself arrested in 1960 when she was passing to the 9th-grade at Manassas High School. She followed several of her siblings to jail for non-violent protests.

The heat was stifling that day on the Washington mall, Nelson remembered. But it didn’t stop her and the tens of thousands of protestors from demanding justice.

“What woke me up to the world was when Emmett Till was murdered,” said Nelson, also pointing to the 400-year history of African-American plight. “But we have to some extent held ourselves together.”

Despite the history of wanton violence against African Americans, the groundswell remained peaceful, Nelson said. “I felt the absolute spirit of the movement and brought it back with me.”

Although each speaker conveyed the urgency of change in America for African Americans, Nelson said, African Americans today have let the Civil Rights Movement down.

“Our young people need more,” she said. “They need to expand their minds.”

Nelson and her sister Elaine Lee Turner founded Heritage Tours, a historical sightseeing tour agency in 1983, “as an extension of the Civil Rights Movement.”

While history is unfolding in the presidential race, Nelson said if Obama wasn’t at the top of the political spectrum, “we wouldn’t have anything. He is the fruit of the Civil Rights Movement, the by-product.”    

She also said Obama has become the symbol of African-American pride and a barometer for success, but added, “It was the Civil Rights Movement that inspired him.”

There is so much to commemorate, said Nelson, 62, “but we’re falling apart as a people. We spend too much time hating each other. We need to do major work on ourselves.”

If Barack wins, she said, it would give African Americans a great responsibility as a people.

“But if he doesn’t win, we have to mirror his example.”

‘I don’t recall being afraid in 1963’

Before the March on Washington convened in the nation’s capitol, Johnnie Turner was afraid. Violence against African Americans was commonplace and justice, in most cases, was denied.

The March on Washington was a powerful force,  said, Johnnie Turner, which led to passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the National Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Turner recounted this experience: “I used to ride a bus to LeMoyne College. And one day there were about 10 white men on the bus, including the white bus driver. They were threatening. I was so afraid I didn’t know what those white men would do.”

The buses were just integrated, Turner said. But the experience brought to mind the harsh realities of the Freedom Riders, who were beaten and their Greyhound bus burned by an angry mob.

“I don’t recall being afraid in 1963,” said Turner, executive director of the local branch NAACP. “I recall a response to a sense of urgency, a call to be proud of the revolution. I welcomed the opportunity to show the country that we were tired.”

The March on Washington was a powerful force, she said, which led to passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the National Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Turner said she made the historic journey because “I didn’t like the way African Americans were being treated.” The memories still linger; many of which she hasn’t forgotten.

Reflecting on the “movement” 45 years ago, Turner said, “This is the best of times and the worst of times. Compared to 1963, this country has progressed.

“There has been tremendous progress, but, at the same token, you have a high infant mortality rate in the African-American community.

“There is a high incarceration rate for African Americans and there are still African-American convicted felons who can’t vote. They have been stripped of their rights.

“There also is disparity in healthcare and treatment for patients with AIDS, high blood pressure and other health issues.

“And in education, our kids continue to lag behind in resources — not because they aren’t smart.”

Turner said African Americans have come far in 45 years, but still have much to gain. Even so, she is proud of Obama’s accomplishments and other African American politicians, but noted the playing field still is not level.

“That march in ’63,” she said, “was an extension of my personal feelings of inequity that this country continues to perpetuate.”

‘We’ve moved to a new level’

“It was just a magnificent happening, more than an incident,” said Maxine Smith, giving her assessment on the March on Washington. “Although I expected much more in the in-between years than what we see today, that was a great outpouring of love. It did so much for our hopes.”

A. Phillip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; Roy Wilkins, president of the National NAACP; Whitney Young, president of the National Urban League; John Lewis, president of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; and Dr. King, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference organized the march.

Smith and her husband, Dr. Vasco Smith, made the trip to Washington by car. They took their son Vasco lll along for the experience and for a family vacation.

“You couldn’t imagine 45 years ago,” said Smith, former executive secretary of the local NAACP chapter. “We poured our hearts and souls out in this country. We came in peace and left in peace. Maybe we will find peace on Nov. 4.”

Smith is referring to Sen. Barack Obama’s historic presidential race and the possibility of American voters electing the first African-American president.

“Just to have a black man poised to be president of the United States is the height of our accomplishment. Now it’s in our hands,” Smith said. “But if this doesn’t happen (for Obama), that would set us back in history.”

She said the March on Washington, the local marches, and Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man, were precursors to Obama’s success.

Not to make any excuses, said Smith, 78, “but so much comes from the racism that permeated our country. But God doesn’t send just one person to do it (affect change).

“We have been through the struggle. And God has put black people in positions and some good white people in positions too. Out of this, we’ve moved to a new level.”

The March on Washington did accomplish a few things, Smith said. “We did realize some of the results of national legislation. However, five years later, we had the sanitation strike and the death of Dr. King.”

“But the hope for today and tomorrow are so great.”