Freedom of Speech and the National Mall

By Dottie Nelson

As an early education teacher, I taught my students concerning Dr. King’s peaceful methods of fighting racism. His speech, popularly called “I Have a Dream,” has been noted as a masterpiece in public speaking. In it, he spoke of his desire for a future where blacks, whites, and others could coexist peacefully and equally. King’s speech, delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, was heard by 250,000 in attendance.  It has often been considered one of the most notable ones in human history and was ranked the top American speech of the 20th century by a 1999 poll of scholars of public address.

Standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D. C. this past July, and remembering that Dr. King delivered in that same place one of the most famous speeches in history, was a truly amazing experience. Our group of 15 from The Door Church in Tucson had the opportunity to visit our nation’s capital, and I was impressed with the history of the National Mall. The National Mall refers to the entire area between the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol, with the Washington Monument providing a division slightly west of the center, and is approximately 1.9 miles. It is America’s most nationally significant public space and landscape, not because of its size and location, but rather because of its history, its meaning, and the diverse purposes it serves. Approximately twenty-four million people visit the Mall each year, and it contains thirteen of America’s finest museums and galleries, including the National Smithsonian Museums.

The National Mall is the central point of most sightseeing visits to Washington D.C. and is the area with Constitution Avenue to the north, Independence Avenue to the south, 3rd Street to the East and 14th Street to the West. The major monuments on the Mall honor our presidents, founding fathers, and war veterans. The Washington Monument towers above the city at the west end of the National Mall and the U. S. Capitol Building stands tall to the east. The monument honoring our first president, George Washington, is the tallest structure in the Nation’s Capital and towers five hundred fifty-five feet above the National Mall. If you ride the elevator to the top (which we did not have the time to do), you can see a spectacular view of the city. The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the government of the United States atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall. We were able to visit the Capitol and get a brief overview of its function. 

Since April of 1894, the National Mall’s status as a wide-open space has made it an important location for protest rallies and marches. The first protest march was led by Jacob Coxey to lobby for the government to create more jobs after the Panic of 1893 hit during a serious economic depression in the United States. Since that time, Americans have used the Mall as a place to voice their needs, opinions, and desires. Some of the most significantly attended protest marches on the National Mall have centered on liberties and privileges of diverse groups of American society. Groups have marched to address major themes including equal constitutional rights for African Americans, women and voting (suffrage); rights for the unborn; abortion supporters; gay, lesbian, and homosexual activists; as well as Promise Keepers, a Christian men’s organization based in Denver, Colorado. Following here are a few of the many marches and/or demonstrations:

March 13, 1913 – Women’s Suffrage March.  5,000 marched to support women’s voting rights.
August 8, 1925 – Ku Klux Klan March,  35,000 KKK members marched.
June 17, 1932 – Bonus Army.  20,000 World War I veterans and their families sought advance payment of bonuses from the Hoover administration. Several were killed.
October 6, 1943 – Rabbis March – Protest for American and Allied action to stop the destruction of European Jewry. 400+ rabbis marched.
May 17, 1957 – Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom.  First large demonstration in Washington of the African American Civil Rights Movement. 25,000 demonstrators attended.
August 28, 1963 – March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. March at which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. 25,000 attended.
April 17, 1965 – March Against the Vietnam War.  Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held its first anti-Vietnam War protest rally in Washington.  25,000 attended. There were 8 more marches protesting the Vietnam War.  The last one was in 1973.
January 22, 1973 – March for Life. Pro-life demonstration held annually on the anniversary of Roe V. Wade. Typically draws 100,000 to 300,000 per year.
May 1976 and July 1978 – National Organization for Women lead marches for the Equal Rights Amendment. Feminist men and women marched. (16,000 and 100,000).
October 14, 1979 – National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. The first such march on Washington drew 100,000 gay men and lesbians to demand equal civil rights.
April 25, 1993 – March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation.  Organizers estimated 1,000,000 attended the March, but the National Park Service estimated attendance at 300,000.
October 11, 1987 – Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.  The second such march on Washington drew 500,000 gay men and women to protest for equal civil rights and to demand government action in the fight against AIDS.
October 16, 1995 – Million Man March Promise Keepers event. United States Park Police officially estimated the crowd size at 400,000.
April 25, 2004 – March for Women’s Lives. Pro-abortion march. Approximately 1,000,000 attended.
January 2007 through March, 2009 – Six anti-war protest marches took place during this time.
June 18-21, 2009 — Protest against Iranian Elections Fraud

One of the most notable marches was the Civil Rights March led by Martin Luther King, Jr, on August 28, 1963. The son of a Baptist minister and a Baptist minister himself, Dr. King is an important figure in history, and one of whom our children learn about in elementary school. According to U.S. Representative John Lewis, “Dr. King had the power, the ability and the capacity to transform those steps on the Lincoln Memorial into a monumental area that will forever be recognized.  By speaking the way he did, he educated, he inspired; he informed not just the people there, but people throughout America and unborn generations.” In the course of his speech, Dr. King referred to the United States Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the United States Constitution, as well as Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Two biblical verses that Dr. King quoted were Isaiah 40:4: “Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough places plain,” and Psalms 30:5: “Weeping may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” Dr. King will always be remembered for his peaceful tactics. He is a leading figure in the fight for African American civil rights.