Marie Davenport, Leo Boughton, and Sid Levin marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. in Washington 50 years ago. Now they're back for the anniversary to talk about what the march meant to them.
A group of “veterans” who marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1963 March on Washington returned fifty years later to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. Wearing sashes that showed they had marched in 1963, Marie Davenport, Leo Boughton, and Sid Levin walked down the streets of D.C. with the group along with hundreds of supporters.
70-year-old Leo Boughton recalled the march fifty years ago. “We were energized, enthusiastic, hopeful and determined,” Boughton said. “It put Doctor King in the forefront of the civil rights movement, and his leadership helped to galvanized people all over the country.”
Marie Davenport, another “veteran,” said, “Dr. King’s speech was very important because it gave all Americans, and particular white people, hope. This was a man who had been to jail, this was a man who had stood up against the fire hoses, the dogs and he decided that he was going to stand up against that, and fight for freedom.”
67-year-old Winnie Westbrook spoke of the importance of the march. “Now I can understand the importance of what my mom and dad saw when they put me on the bus at 17. I can see the importance now of having my grandchildren and my son-in-law march with me,” Westbrook said. “That’s a generation that will bring another generation with them when they get to be my age.”
Listen to their stories below.
