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

Ages 10 to 14

A gripping middle-grade history that offers a fresh look at the groundbreaking 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom by spotlighting the protest’s radical roots and the long-ignored role of Black women organizers—includes a wealth of black-and-white photos from the time period throughout.

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 from the period 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 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 at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. The former chief historian of the Jackie Robinson Foundation, he appeared in Ken Burns’s Jackie Robinson and is also the author of numerous books, including Teaching Beyond the Textbook. He lives in Minnesota.

Michael G. Long is the author and editor of several books on Jack Robinson and civil rights history. He appeared in Ken Burns’s Jackie Robinson, and his op-ed pieces about Robinson have been published in many national media outlets such as the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, and ESPN. He lives in Pennsylvania.