Musings: On board a bus toward history
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Aug. 28, 1963. Credit: AP
When the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom arrived last month, it revived incredible memories — because I was there.
I was living in Hanover, New Hampshire, and I heard about the march. A friend said it would be important for white women to show their support of civil rights. So we decided to go, since my husband agreed to watch our three kids, all under 7.
A man who was driving to northern Vermont took us to where we could get onto a bus heading to the Aug. 28 march. As the bus drove through Vermont, we stopped to pick up a minister of a local church. By the time we arrived in Washington, about two dozen ministers had boarded.
I saw the huge crowd, and I could also see the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., only several hundred feet away. When I heard the “I Have a Dream” speech, I was almost in tears.
After returning to Hanover the next morning, I told my husband I had witnessed an important event in American history.
— Judith Wishnia, Setauket
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