More Than a Dream: The Radical March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

Yohuru Williams · Michael G. Long

Aug 2023 · Sold by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

About this ebook

A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD LONGLIST SELECTION ● Hailed as “an essential reeducation on one of the most consequential events in US history” by Ibram X. Kendi, this gripping middle-grade account offers a fresh look at the groundbreaking 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom by spotlighting the protest’s radical roots and the underappreciated role of Black women—includes a wealth of contemporary black-and-white photos throughout.

Six decades ago, on August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom—a moment often revered as the culmination of this Black-led protest. But at its core, the March on Washington was not a beautiful dream of future integration; it was a mass outcry for jobs and freedom NOW—not at some undetermined point in the future. It was a revolutionary march with its own controversies and problems, the themes of which still resonate to this day.

Without diminishing the words of Dr. King, More Than a Dream looks at the march through a wider lens, using Black newspaper reports as a primary resource, recognizing the overlooked work of socialist organizers and Black women protesters, and repositioning this momentous day as radical in its roots, methods, demands, and results. From Yohuru Williams and Michael G. Long, the acclaimed authors of Call Him Jack, comes a classic-in-the-making that will transform our modern understanding of this legendary event in the fight for racial justice and civil rights.

About the author

Yohuru Williams is a professor of history and founding director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. A regular contributor to a variety of media programming on CNN and History, he is the author of numerous books, including Teaching US History Beyond the Textbook; Call Him Jack: The Story of Jackie Robinson, Black Freedom Fighter; and More Than a Dream: The Radical March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. He lives in Minnesota.

Michael G. Long is the author or editor of several books on Bayard Rustin, nonviolent protests, and civil rights history, including Call Him Jack: The Story of Jackie Robinson, Black Freedom Fighter and More Than a Dream: The Radical March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. His commentary about civil rights has appeared in many national media outlets such as the Afro, the Los Angeles Times, and ESPN. He lives in Pennsylvania.