On August 28, 1963, a quarter of a million Americans lined the National Mall for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. While the event is now remembered for Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream Speech,” the initial news reports about the March did not dwell on those seminal words.
Instead, as the New York Times headline declared, the March was “A Polite but Pressing Insistence on Civil Rights ‘Now’,” and described it as nothing short of, “The greatest assembly for a redress of grievances that this capital has ever seen.”
Sixty years later, the March is seen as one of the great triumphs of American history—not just for King’s rhetorical brilliance, but for its key role in pressuring Congress and the White House to enact the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
And yet, it is also a cautionary tale – of progress not yet made and of battles for America’s founding ideals that have yet to be won.
This week, City Club is remembering the March on Washington and looking forward to the future of civil rights in Oregon and across the country.
We’re starting the conversation with something special and different: a viewing of University of Oregon graduate James Blue’s (1930-1980) award-winning documentary about the March on Washington. We’ll be joined by UO Professor David Frank, who has built a digital exhibition of the work.
Then, we’ll transition to our conversation about the future of civil rights in our community, led by City Club Board Member and NAACP Eugene-Springfield President Miles Pendleton.
Speakers:
Professor David Frank has been a professor at the University of Oregon since 1981 and a resident faculty member in the Clark Honors College. He served as dean of the Clark Honors College from 2008 – 2013.
In 2018, Professor Frank was the recipient of the Andrew Mellon Fellowship to research and develop courses and exhibitions using UO alumnus James Blue’s 1963 documentary “‘The March’: The Cold War, Civil Rights, and the Problem of American Apartheid” to examine American history, racism and anti-racism. Professor Frank helps to oversee the Global Justice Program, which offers students multiple opportunities to engage in projects designed to promote nonviolence and justice.
Briae Lewis is a City Councilor representing Corvallis Ward 2. She moved from Maryland in October 2019, just in time for the COVID-19 pandemic. She soon involved herself in the community, running for precinct committeeperson for the Benton County Democrats.
Briae ran for Council in Ward 2 when then-mayor candidate Charles Maughan stepped down. She lost the incumbent seat but subsequently won the general election, becoming the first openly gay African-American woman to represent Ward 2. She was elected to the Executive Committee of the Home, Opportunity, Planning and Equity (H.O.P.E.) Advisory Board. Briae is looking forward to helping find solutions to the housing crisis and expanding infrastructure for public transportation.
Miles Pendleton is a Board Member of the City Club of Eugene and the President of the Eugene-Springfield Chapter of the NAACP. He is a past president of the Eugene Springfield NAACP Youth Council and a graduate, with honors, from the University of Miami (FL).
About the City Club of Eugene:
The mission of the City Club of Eugene is to build community vision through open inquiry. The Club explores a wide range of significant local, state, and national issues and helps to formulate new approaches and solutions to problems. Membership is open to all, and Club members have a direct influence on public policy by discussing issues of concern with elected officials and other policy makers. The City Club’s mailing address is PO Box 12084, Eugene, OR 97440, and its website is cityclubofeugene.org.
Video and Broadcast
This program will be live streamed, and the videotape will be made available on the City Club of Eugene’s Facebook page and You Tube Channel, in addition to our website. It will be broadcast on Monday, July 24, at 7:00 pm, on KLCC 89.7 FM.
Contact: For more information, visit CityClubOfEugene.org.