Memorial Bridge march to honor 60th anniversary of March on Washington led by Dr. King

PORTSMOUTH — Sixty years ago this month, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of freedom for the nation’s Black population ringing “from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire” following hundreds of years of enslavement and generations of Jim Crow injustice.

The civil rights leader’s words were delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in his famed “I Have a Dream” speech, given before a Washington D.C. crowd of 250,000 at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on Aug. 28, 1963. The protest called for an end to racial discrimination and took place just a year before the Civil Rights Act was signed into law, barring discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

“When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir,” King said. “This note was a promise that all men — yes, Black men as well as white men — would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds.”

Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire executive director JerriAnne Boggis noted that marchers sought an end to segregation in America, in addition to fair wages, economic justice, civil rights protection and equal education.

Decades later, she said that advocates seeking a better, more equitable tomorrow for the country’s marginalized people continue to fight for such liberties.

“Sixty years later, we could be marching for the same things,” Boggis said.

And as the 60th anniversary of the march approaches, that’s exactly what the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire plans to do.

The organization will hold a public silent march over the Memorial Bridge on Saturday, Aug. 26, in honor of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

In 2013, the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire, then named the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail, honored the 50th anniversary of the march with bell-ringing, a reading of King’s speech at the city's African Burying Ground Memorial Park, and New Orleans-style music.

This year’s ceremony will begin at John Paul Jones Memorial Park in Kittery, with the group then quietly marching over the Memorial Bridge into Portsmouth.

“I’m hoping people are going to be reflecting on all of the years since the original march,” said Gina Bowker, the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire’s program coordinator. “It's been 60 years and we’re still fighting the same battles and protesting the same things. It’s been longer than I’ve been alive and we’re still striving for all of this.”

The procession will walk through town to the African Burying Ground Memorial Park, where human remains were discovered in 2003 by maintenance crews, with eight of the people later identified through DNA to be people of African descent. There, another community reading of King’s speech will take place, followed by the reading of names of those enslaved in the Seacoast years ago.

The list spans multiple pages, according to Boggis.

“Whenever we read the names of the enslaved people, people are always surprised at how many we have and it’s always quite emotional,” she said.

The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire will additionally honor a few local citizens who participated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom before closing out the program with a song led by the Rev. Robert Thompson.

The anniversary ceremony is one that’s mimicked by municipalities and organizations across the United States. In Washington D.C., a 60th anniversary rally will be held, with King’s son, Martin Luther King III, planning to be in attendance.

“Through events like this, the Black Heritage Trail (of New Hampshire) really helps people to understand that remembrance is a key to progress,” said Terry Robinson, a marketing specialist with the organization. “We can’t continue to move forward without understanding what’s happened in the past. Marches and commemorations like this really put into perspective the things that people went through 60 years ago and what people continue to go through.”

What excerpts or messages from King’s speech should Americans be reminding themselves of as they push forward for progress?

“We forget the part where he says we’ve come to cash a check, meaning that we’ve got to be aware of the country that we live in and not keep on those rose-colored glasses when we look at where we are around equity and justice,” Boggis answered. “I think we really need to pay attention to that dream that we’re striving for, but not forget the steps that it takes to get to that dream… Are we working for one group of people and not others? Are we lifting the boat for all of us?”

The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire’s March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom anniversary event will begin in Kittery at 10 a.m. The public is invited to join the march.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: March across Memorial Bridge to honor 1963 March on Washington, MLK