Civil Rights Movement History. Early Publication of Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have a Dream” Speech in The Day They Marched Documenting the 1963 March on Washington.

Martin Luther King Jr

First Edition

The Day They Marched edited by Doris E. Saunders, published in 1963, documents the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and preserves one of the earliest book appearances of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Issued within weeks of the August 1963 demonstration, the volume records the largest civil rights gathering in the United States to that date, when approximately 250,000 participants assembled in Washington, D.C. to advocate for federal civil rights legislation, economic opportunity, and racial equality. The publication captures the atmosphere, leadership, and mass participation that defined the march and situates the event within the broader civil rights struggle unfolding across the United States during the early 1960s.

Saunders, Doris E., editor. The Day They Marched. Chicago: Johnson Publishing Company, 1963. First edition, first printing. The book includes the full text of Martin Luther King Jr.’s address delivered at the Lincoln Memorial along with an introductory essay by historian Lerone Bennett Jr., later known for his work Before the Mayflower and for his editorial leadership at Ebony magazine. Bennett describes King’s speech as an oration that “called back all the struggle and all the pain and all the agony, and held for the possibility of triumph.” The volume contains more than one hundred black and white photographs documenting the march and its participants, including images of King speaking before the crowd, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson performing, and student activist John Lewis addressing demonstrators. Photographs by Moneta Sleet Jr., Maurice Sorrell, and Charles Sanders record protest signs, large crowds gathered along the reflecting pool, and the assembled marchers extending from the Lincoln Memorial toward the Washington Monument.

The publication reflects the role of African American media institutions in documenting and shaping public understanding of the civil rights movement. Johnson Publishing Company, publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines, played a central role in recording Black political activism and cultural life during the mid twentieth century. Through its combination of photographic journalism and printed speech text, The Day They Marched preserves a contemporary visual and documentary record of one of the defining events of the American civil rights movement. Tall octavo volume in original color photographic wrappers. Minor edge wear with clean interior pages and sound binding. Overall very good condition. The book provides an early published record of the March on Washington and the widely cited address delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lincoln Memorial.

Item #22346

Price: $1,250.00