March on Washington, King's "Dream" speech influenced Mankato lives

Aug. 27—Linda Cobb was 11 years old and living with her family in Nashville, Tennessee, when the March on Washington took place in August 1963.

Her parents, Florence and Robert Cobb, would make big impacts in the 1970s at Mankato State College as instructors.

As with the impressionable young pre-teen, no doubt the events they encountered at that time influenced who they would become and what they would do when they became influencers in Mankato.

The charismatic leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., had spoken in Mankato in November of 1961, bringing the message of the struggles of Blacks in America to a town that was likely unaware of them firsthand.

Cobb grew up in the midst of the struggle, however, and said she was greatly impacted by the events in Washington on Aug. 28, 1963, the 60th anniversary of which is Monday.

"Nashville had long been a central organizing point for the Civil Rights Movement," Cobb said.

"There was much going on locally and throughout the South for civil rights in the form of sit-ins, boycotts, marches and protests, but the March on Washington would demonstrate to the country and the world the urgency, seriousness and gravity of the struggle for equal rights and justice."

She remembered there were activities being planned, and an increasing level of interest in what was happening in the Washington and the country at large that summer.

"As a child, I do remember all the excitement around the movement. There were bus caravans being organized and you had to reserve your seats," she remembered. "It seemed that summer, there was an extra heavy buzz in the air regarding this huge event."

According to the National Museum of American History website: "Justice Department records list more than 978 demonstrations in 109 cities, with over 2,000 arrests and four deaths, including the murder of NAACP leader Medgar Evers in Jackson, Mississippi."

Demonstrators were fighting for the right to vote, full access to jobs and education, and an end to segregated public accommodations.

Because both of her parents were working at historically Black educational institutions, they were fully aware of what was happening. While none of her family went to Washington, they lent their support locally, as others across the country did.

"I remember mostly in the form of boycotts," she said. "There was a large department store in Nashville, where Blacks could shop but not use the restrooms. My family always made every effort to uphold and honor these boycotts."

Don Strasser, who taught African American history at MSU from 1969-2003, wanted to attend the march but was caring for his mother who was very sick that summer.

He stressed that while the march is remembered as a civil rights protest, it was also a demand for job opportunities and equal pay. King used his notoriety as a spokesperson for the Civil Rights Movement to speak to the nation and the world about the unfulfilled promises of America.

"The march was modeled on the one threatened by A. Phillip Randolph in 1941 to force FDR to open defense industry jobs to Blacks," Strasser said. "King provided the moral argument and the sense of political urgency that helped to make the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 possible."

Sadly, Strasser said, current efforts by some to twist King's words — which were aspirational — to support efforts to end affirmative action, shows that we as a country have a long way to go to realize King's dream.