Letters from an American
· collected 2026-08-31 · by Heather Cox Richardson
commentary
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom that took place on August 28, 1963, in Washington, D.C., is remembered today primarily because it was the occasion when the final speaker, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and delivered what became known as the “I Have a Dream” speech.
asserted
I → take → speech
While that speech is often excerpted to make it sound like King’s concerns were simply about the way individuals thought about race, in fact, the march’s organizers, Black labor leader A. Philip Randolph and civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, focused on economic discrimination and the lack of decent jobs for Black Americans.
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organizers → excerpt → Americans
In the process of organizing the march, they brought on board not only civil rights organizers but also white labor organizer Walter Reuther, the head of the United Auto Workers.
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they → organize → Workers
King acknowledged the economic focus of the march when he centered his speech around the idea that Black Americans had received “a promissory note” that had become “a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’”
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which → acknowledge → note
“But,” he said, “we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.”
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bank → say → justice
Dr. King was not the only speaker that day; he anchored the event.
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he → anchor → event
Before him spoke the chair of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a young John Lewis.
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chair → speak → Committee
Just 23 years old, he had been one of the thirteen original Freedom Riders, white and Black students traveling together from Washington, D.C., to New Orleans in 1961 to challenge segregation.
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he → travel → segregation
At the Washington march, Lewis railed against the systems that kept Black Americans in poverty and permitted white men to commit violence against them, and explained that the remedy for the economic deprivation and racial violence Black Americans suffered was not in the civil rights bill proposed by the administration of President John F. Kennedy, but in the power of peaceful demonstrations and the vote.
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Americans → rail → demonstrations
“‘ONE MAN, ONE VOTE’...must be our [cry],” he told the crowd.
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he → tell → crowd
“The revolution is at hand, and we must free ourselves of the chains of political and economic slavery,” Lewis said.
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Lewis → free → slavery
“The nonviolent revolution is saying, ‘We will not wait for the courts to act, for we have been waiting for hundreds of years.
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we → say → years
We will not wait for the President, nor the Justice Department, nor Congress, but we will take matters into our own hands and create a great source of power, outside of any national structure, that could and would assure us a victory.’
uncertain
that → wait → victory
In 1964, Congress passed the Civil Rights Acts to protect voting rights.
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Congress → pass → rights
That year, when Republicans ran Arizona senator Barry Goldwater for president, calling for a rollback of business regulation and civil rights to the years before the New Deal, voters gave Democrats such a strong majority in Congress that President Lyndon Baines Johnson and the Democrats were able to pass 84 new laws to put what Johnson called the Great Society into place.
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Johnson → run → place
They cemented civil rights with the 1965 Voting Rights Act protecting minority voting, created jobs in Appalachia, and established job-training and community development programs.
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They → cement → programs
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 gave federal aid to public schools and established the Head Start program to provide comprehensive early education for low-income children.
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Act → give → children
The Higher Education Act of 1965 increased federal investment in universities and provided scholarships and low-interest loans to students.
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Act → increase → students
The Social Security Act of 1965 created Medicare, which provided health insurance for Americans over 65, and Medicaid, which helped cover healthcare costs for folks with limited incomes.
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which → create → incomes
Congress advanced the war on poverty by increasing welfare payments and subsidizing rent for low-income families.
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Congress → advance → families
Congress took on the rights of consumers with new protective legislation that required cigarettes and other dangerous products to carry warning labels, required products to carry labels identifying the manufacturer, and required lenders to disclose the full cost of finance charges in loans.
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products → take → loans
Congress also passed legislation protecting the environment, including the Water Quality Act of 1965 that established federal standards for water quality.
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that → pass → quality
But the government did not simply address poverty and safety.
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government → address → poverty
Congress also spoke to Johnson’s aspirations for beauty and purpose when it created the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities.
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it → speak → Arts
This law created both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities to make sure the era’s emphasis on science didn’t endanger the humanities.
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emphasis → create → humanities
In 1967 it would also establish the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, followed in 1969 by National Public Radio.
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it → establish → Radio
In 1968, former vice president Richard M. Nixon won the presidency after promising that he would not continue to use the federal government to protect Black rights in the South.
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he → win → South
With that promise, racists made a permanent move from the Democrats to the Republicans, joining forces with businessmen who wanted an end to regulation and to taxes and the social welfare programs they funded.
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they → make → taxes
The race to tear apart the postwar government that helped all Americans by appealing to racism was on.
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that → tear → racism
Yesterday the Department of Homeland Security under Trump served up straight racism and cruelty to its wavering base in a post about Haitians.
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Department → serve → Haitians
About 350,000 Haitians came to the United States after a catastrophic earthquake hit their country in 2010, destabilizing both the economy and the government.
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earthquake → come → economy
As the country became overrun with violent gangs, the U.S. granted Haitians Temporary Protected Status, allowing them to stay in the U.S. because it was too dangerous to go home.
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it → overrun → U.S.
Former secretary of homeland security Kristi Noem, who described Haitians as “entitlement junkies” and “foreign invaders,” refused to extend TPS for those immigrants, despite the fact that the State Department warns travelers not to visit Haiti “due to the risk of crime, kidnapping, terrorism, unrest and limited health care.”
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Department → describe → crime
In June the Supreme Court ruled that the administration had the power to make that determination, and the administration promptly warned Haitian immigrants, many of whom have deep roots in the U.S. now, that they no longer have legal status and would be deported.
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they → rule → status
Yesterday the Department of Homeland Security posted on social media: “Haiti TPS has been TERMINATED.
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TPS → post → media
They have two options: LEAVE IMMEDIATELY or be DEPORTED.”
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They → have → options
Attached was a video of chained Black men and women being moved through the rain toward a waiting plane.
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video → attach → plane
Officials at DHS chose to publish a video of Black people in chains that evoked the slave coffles of the Old South.
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that → choose → South
Today Theodore Schelifer and Matt Zdun of the New York Times reported on the top 20 megadonors, who have already poured $1.2 billion into the midterm elections.
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who → report → elections
Elon Musk alone has put in more than $90 million to keep Republicans in office as they dismantle a government that worked for the people and replace it with one that continues to funnel money upward.
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that → put → money
…and 13 more, not listed.
