WATCH LIVE: Presidents Obama, Clinton And Carter Commemorate The March On Washington
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In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter will join civil rights leaders and others in offering speeches from the same spot in front of the Lincoln Memorial where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech on August 28, 1963.
“It won’t be as good as the speech 50 years ago,” the president said in an interview Tuesday. “I just want to get that out there early. When you are talking about Dr. King’s speech at the March on Washington, you’re talking about one of the maybe five greatest speeches in American history.”
The Supreme Court’s recent ruling throwing out Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act — one of the two monumental pieces of civil rights legislation passed in the years after the first march — is expected to be topic of the president’s speech.
Here’s a complete schedule of today’s events.
11:05am Invocation by Past A.R. Bernard
11:07am Opening Call to Commemoration by Amb. Andrew Young
11:20am Senator Angus King Remarks
11:22am Johnny Dupree, National Conference of Black Mayors, Remarks
11:25am Performance by Peter & Paul of Peter, Paul, & Mary
11:30am Charles Steele, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Remarks
11:32am Melanie Campbell, Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Remarks
11:35am Rep. Joaquin Castro Remarks
11:37am PM Perry Christie, Bahamas, Remarks
11:44am Myrile Evers Williams Remarks
11:48am Kristen Stoneking, FOD, Remarks
11:50am Mee Moua, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Remarks
11:52am Gov. Martin O’Malley Remarks
12:00pm Fred Maahs, American Association of People with Disabilities, Remarks
12:02pm Video: Ban Ki Moon
12:04pm Ben Jealous, NAACP President, Remarks
12:06pm Roslyn Brock, NAACP, Remarks
12:08pm Alan Van Capelle, Bend the Arc, Remarks
12:16pm Rev. Joseph Lowery Remarks
12:20pm Laura Turner Seydel, Captain Planet Foundation, Remarks
12:22pm Eliza Byard, Gay, Lesbian, & Straight Education Network, Remarks
12:24pm Bill Russell Remarks
12:32pm Clayola Brown, A. Phillip Randolph Institute, Remarks
12:34pm Lee Saunders Remarks
12:36pm Rep. Donna Edwards Remarks
12:42pm Ingrid Saunders Jones, National Council of Negro Women, Remarks
12:44pm Mark Tillman, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Remarks
12:52pm Dolores Huerta Remarks
12:55pm Lynn Stratford, UNICEF, Remarks
12:57pm Judy Vrendenburgh & Shanita McArthur, GIRLS INC, Remarks
12:59pm Leann Rhimes Performance, Amazing Grace
1:04pm Rep. Marcia Fudge Remarks
1:08pm Mark Morial, National Urban League, Remarks
1:10pm Mary Kay Henry, Service Employees International Union, Remarks
1:12pm Jamie Foxx Remarks
1:15pm Alayna Eagle Shield, National Congress of American Indians, Remarks
1:17pm Sophia Campos, DREAMers, Remarks
1:19pm Video: Sidney Poitier
1:26pm Phillip Agnew, Dream Defenders, Remarks
1:28pm Rev. Al Sharpton Remarks
1:31pm Julian Bond Remarks
1:33pm Randi Weingarten, American Federation of Teachers, Remarks
1:36pm Lynda Johnson Robb Remarks
1:39pm Caroline Kennedy Remarks
1:43pm Forest Whitaker Reading
1:50pm Marian Wright Edelman, Children’s Defense Fund, Remarks
2:00pm Oprah Winfrey Remarks
2:04pm Rep. Lewis and King Family introduced
2:05pm Presidents Descend Stairs
2:06pm Star Spangled Banner Performed
2:10pm Rep. John Lewis Remarks
2:14pm President Jimmy Carter Remarks
2:21pm President Bill Clinton Remarks
2:32pm King Family Remarks
2:44pm President Obama Remarks
2:59pm Ringing of the Bell with Presidents Obama, Clinton, and Carter, the King Family, and Rep. John Lewis
