Fifty years ago last week, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech to a crowd of 250,000 which stretched from the foot of the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument. King's speech immortalized the "March", but the day might not have been such a success without the help of organized labor.

On this Labor Day, despite the more nefarious popular public perception that would come later, it's worth highlighting the positive impact labor unions had on the Civil Rights movement and on that August day in 1963.

"The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom" was organized by A. Philip Randolph, a member of the ALF-CIO Executive Council. Randolph, who was 74 at the time, had a long union history having organized elevator operators in New York City, dockworkers in Tidewater, Virginia, and having served as president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.

Randolph was no stranger to Washington, he had successfully petitioned Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman to end discrimination in defense employment during the war and later to end segregation of America's armed forces. Randolph had suggested a march on Washington before, but had been talked out of it.

http://www.dailyprogress.com/starexponent/opinion/columnists/labor-unions-played-key-role-in-success-of-washington-march/article_a93982a4-13ad-11e3-b1e8-0019bb30f31a.html