In the summer of 1963, the U.S. Information Agency commissioned photographer Rowland Scherman to document the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which took place on August 28, 1963. Scherman’s photographs, now in the holdings of the U.S. National Archives, constitute a unique collection of historic images of the March on Washington.
This exhibition was prepared through the collaboration between the U.S. Embassy in Slovenia and The National Liberation Museum Maribor.
An estimated 250,000 people marched to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., where they heard Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, which gave an impassioned voice to the demands of the American civil rights movement: equal rights and justice for all citizens. Some historians maintain that King’s speech, delivered at one of the largest civil rights demonstrations in U.S. history, was one of those rare moments that changed a nation and paved the way for a transformation of American law and life. The dream King expressed at the March on Washington and King’s call for racial equality and justice transcends borders. He traveled fithe globe proclaiming his vision of the future and defined racism as worldwide evil. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.