TWU Remembers the March on Washington, 60 Years Ago

Saturday, Aug. 26, 2023 -- Thousands are gathering in Washington DC today to mark the 60th Anniversary of the historic 1963 Civil Rights march to the National Mall. It was there that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech before a stunningly large crowd of 250,000 people. Richard Davis, President of TWU Local 100, said: "The anniversary reminds me of our union’s proud history in the fight against racism, starting in the 1930s with TWU’s founder, Michael J. Quill, vowing the union would support workers “regardless of race, color, or nationality.”

The TWU gave public, financial, and practical assistance to the Civil Rights Movement, including participating in rallies and pickets in the South, and establishing a fund to pay the bail of those arrested protesting segregation in restaurants. In NYC, TWU broke the color barrier for transit jobs, enabling African Americans to obtain better paying positions beyond the Porter title.

The organizers of today’s march, however, rightly are focusing on the need to keep up the work, including fighting for federal voting rights legislation. As King’s eldest son, Martin Luther King III, said earlier this week: “Dad talked about eradicating the triple evils of poverty, racism, and violence....Just about any problem that we are faced with in our nation falls under one of those categories. So, we have to be more vigilant, we have to be more engaged, we have to be more, in fact we are, more determined than ever to actually address these great issues.”

Let’s take pride in our past but commit ourselves to also working towards a better future.