Women Were 'Second Class Citizens At '63 March'

Published August 28, 2013 at 11:45 AM CDT

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Dorothy Height, right, National President of the National Council of Negro Women and Director of the center for Racial Justice of the national YWCA, listens as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., gestures during his "I Have a Dream" speech as he addresses thousands of civil rights supporters gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in Washington, D.C., Aug. 28, 1963. (AP)

Gloria Richardson, one of the few women on the program at the 1963 March on Washington, was only allowed to say “hello” before her microphone was taken away.

She, along with Rosa Parks and Lena Horne were escorted away from the podium before Martin Luther King Jr. spoke.

Richardson shared her memories of the March on Washington with The Root’s Keli Goff, telling her that women leaders were asked to march down Independence Avenue, while the male leaders marched on Pennsylvania Avenue with the media.

By the time Richardson arrived on the stage with Bayard Rustin, her chair with her name on it had been removed, and though she had been asked to give a two-minute speech, the event marshal took her microphone away after she said “hello.”

Read Goff’s piece, which includes a slideshow of “The Badass Women of the March”
Full Here & Now coverage of the march anniversary

Guest

Keli Goff, special correspondent for The Root. She tweets @keligoff.

Women Were 'Second Class Citizens At '63 March'

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