March On Washington From Around The World
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(wolfkann/Flickr Creative Commons)
Over 100 different sites in America and around the world are commemorating the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s historic gesture under the Lincoln Memorial, in honor of this momentous occasion in civil rights history.
“The response to our call to commemorate the March on Washington and my father’s “I Have A Dream” speech has been overwhelming,” said Rev. Bernice King, MLK’s daughter, in a written statement.
President Obama spoke around 3:05 PM EDT on Wednesday from the same steps on which Martin Luther King addressed 250,000 U.S. citizens united in the struggle for equal rights among people of any and all skin color, along with other national figures such as Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.In Washington D.C., the birthplace of MLK’s “I Have A Dream,” a rally celebrating the 50th year since the March on Washington had started moving along a 1.6 mile route scheduled to end around midday this Wednesday at the Lincoln Memorial.
“This march, and that speech, changed America,” said Bill Clinton in his speech to a cheering audience.
Celebration bells will be rung in coordination on Wednesday, 3 PM EDT – the time when MLK delivered his groundbreaking speech in Washington – as a symbolic gesture derived from MLK’s call to “let freedom ring” from the hilltops and mountainsides of every state and city in America.
Churches and schoolhouses from nearly every state in America will be ringing their bells in commemoration of the March on Washington.
Some of these sites are monuments holding great historic value to the civil rights movement, such as the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, a monument constructed in Topeka, Kansas to enshrine the Supreme Court’s decision to outlaw segregation in schools.
Overseas, freedom bells will also be rung in Switzerland, Japan, Liberia, Nepal, Argentina, and in Great Britain’s London Trafalgar Square.
London Mayor Boris Johnson had said that MLK’s speech resonates across the world and continues to inspire people as one of the great pieces of oratory.
Despite the celebratory mood at the Lincoln Memorial today, many are expecting President Obama to address the subtle racial injustices in America that have continued in America despite MLK’s contributions to civil rights, especially after Obama’s heartfelt comments on the Zimmerman trial.
Churches and schoolhouses from nearly every state in America will be ringing their bells in commemoration of the March on Washington.
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