In a few days Lewis Jennings will stand where nearly 250,000 people stood 50 years ago to rally for equality.
About 50 people from Northwest Florida and thousands more from across the United States will gather in Washington, D.C., on Saturday to celebrate the anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on Aug. 28, 1963.
“If we go back 50 years, in 1963 when they marched to enact the voter’s right it came into effect the next year,” said Jennings, the NAACP’s Florida State Conference director for areas 1 and 2. “We’re marching again for the same thing that was approved, because a portion was not voted on.”
In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. While the act was a landmark, many say more work is needed to assure equal protections for everyone.
The U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 in June to overturn Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, which required some states and local jurisdictions to get federal approval before they changed voting laws.
Jennings says he and those marching this weekend want to see all of Section 4 restored.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington, when the crowd marched from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial.
Those same steps will be taken Saturday.
“It’s about people coming together in a peaceful manner with solidarity for a cause,” Jennings said. “This is not meant to be unruly or protesting. We are angry and disturbed, but this is a peaceful march where people all over the nation will come to be in solidarity and show Washington, the lawmakers, the president and the nation as a whole what’s going on. We’re lobbying for a change.”
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Angel McCurdy at 850-315-4432 or amccurdy@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @AngelMnwfdn.