An Eventful 48 Hours: DuBois Dies and King Leads March on Washington
by: Dr. Clint Wilson
In one of the most eventful two-day time periods in history, Black America, and indeed the world, experienced both the death of W. E. B. DuBois and the 1963 ''March on Washington'' highlighted by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's epochal ''I Have A Dream'' speech.
At the beginning of the march on the nation’s capitol the assembled crowd of more than 200,000 people was informed of the great DuBois’ death in Accra, Ghana. The news added poignancy to the momentous event and was on everyone’s heart when Dr. King took the podium to deliver his most famous speech.
Although he didn’t live to know of King’s speech DuBois would surely have agreed with its premise that the ''souls of Black folk,'' as he termed it, yearned for the day when color would no longer be the most pressing issue facing the United States.
The Black Press, of course, covered the events of this most momentous 48 hours.
MARCH ON WASHINGTON
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Dr. Dubois Dead at 95
ACCRA, Ghana - Dr. W. E. B. DuBois, eminent scholar and statesman, died here Tuesday night. The Government of Ghana in making the announcement, gave no cause of death.
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1955 - Emmett Till Killed in Mississippi In one of the defining events in the struggle for civil rights in America, 14-year-old Emmett Till of Chicago was killed by racists while visiting relatives in Mississippi.
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