John R. Lewis 1963 March on Washington Speech Hit Racial Injustice Head-on

John R. Lewis

Congressional Representative John R. Lewis, who passed away yesterday from cancer, burst into national prominence at the age of 23 when he gave a fiery speech at the 1963 March on Washington, the same event where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. At the time, Lewis was the leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Although the March on Washington’s organizers asked him to tone down his original draft, Lewis still hit the issues of racial justice hard and fast.

My high school music teacher said that the most important parts of a song are the beginning and end. That’s when people are listening the most. The same is true of speeches. Lewis began his speech, not giving by an amusing anecdote, quoting a historical figure, or even introducing himself. Instead, hesitating not one second, he lashed out against economic and legal injustice:

“We march today for jobs and freedom, but we have nothing to be proud of.  For hundreds and thousands of our brothers are not here.  For they are receiving starvation wages, or no wages at all.  While we stand here, there are sharecroppers in the Delta of Mississippi who are out in the fields working for less than three dollars a day, twelve hours a day.  While we stand here there are students in jail on trumped-up charges.  Our brother James Farmer, along with many others, is also in jail. We come here today with a great sense of misgiving.”

As a statement against racial injustice, Lewis’ speech introduction was stark and powerful. Lewis made his most important point first, un-embellished and specific. He offered no pleasantries. Instead, he said, as long as injustice ruled, “we have nothing to be proud of.”

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Lewis’ speech introduction offered vivid details: “starvation wages, or no wages at all.” “Working for less than three dollars a day.” “Students in jail on trumped-up charges.” “Our brother James Farmer, along with many others, is also in jail.” Lewis didn’t talk about a promised land that had already arrived; instead, he talked about “a great sense of misgiving.”

Lewis’ original draft said that the Johnson administration’s civil rights bill was “too little and too late.” The draft complained that the bill offered no defense against police brutality. Again, he made this specific, and even the final version as he delivered it said this about police brutality:

“In its present form this bill will not protect the citizens of Danville, Virginia, who must live in constant fear of a police state. It will not protect the hundreds and thousands of people that have been arrested on trumped up charges. What about the three young men, SNCC field secretaries in Americus, Georgia, who face the death penalty for engaging in peaceful protest?”

And, although the final draft deleted Lewis’ call for “our own scorched-earth policy and burn Jim Crow to the ground – nonviolently,” he still ended with a powerful call to action. He didn’t just call his own audience to action; he called the entire nation to wake up:

“By the forces of our demands, our determination and our numbers, we shall send a desegregated South into a thousand pieces, put them together in the image of God and Democracy. We must say, wake up America, wake up! For we cannot stop, and we will not and cannot be patient.”

Emotional power made this a great speech. Overshadowed in publicity by King’s magnificent “I Have a Dream,” Lewis' speech made a powerful enough impact that he was able to represent Georgia in the United States Congress for 33 years. He rose to a leadership role in Congress, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and indefatigably pursued racial justice.

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What made this a great speech? Powerful language? Of course. Clear, articulate, and confident delivery? Yes. Most important, however is that Lewis never pulled his (nonviolent) punches. He said what he thought unmistakably, and he gave the details. He created a vivid image in the audience’s mind.  He articulated issues that still haunt us today. Speakers are so often eager to pull back, to compromise their vision, to be, in general, too timid. But Lewis became an icon of the civil rights movement precisely because, although he firmly held to his nonviolent, general principles, he said what he thought, drove his point home, and refused to compromise his basic principles. Granted a remarkable opportunity with an unprecedented audience, he wasted no time telling people what he wanted them to hear.

What about today? For, even as we honor Lewis’s life, anti-police brutality marches have filled our cities for months. The federal government dispatched mysterious, heavily armed, camouflaged officers to arrest seemingly peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters on the slightest pretext. Vandals painted over murals that say “Black Lives Matter.” Lewis did not just tell a message from the past. He spoke to us today. Did America wake up? Are we listening?

Image: John R. Lewis, US Congress, via Wikimedia Commons