Word: monumented
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Organizers of the march had publicly predicted a throng of 100,000, although they privately felt confident that many more than that would show up. Now, peeking out of the green-and-white circus tent that served as their headquarters on the Monument grounds, the leaders began to worry that the crowd might fall short of their minimal hopes...
Overalls & Ivy. Even so, as of 7:30 on the morning of the great day, there were probably more cops than marchers on the assembly grounds around the Washington Monument. The District of Columbia's police chief, Robert V. Murray, had assembled a force of 5,900 men -including 350 club-carrying firemen, 1,700 National Guardsmen and 300 newly sworn-in police reserves. At nearby bases, 4,000 soldiers and marines were ready to cross the Potomac in helicopters if they were needed for riot duty...
...between 10% and 15% were white. There were, of course, the guitar-toting, goatee-growing beatniks; but for every one of these, there were probably two or three clergymen. There were Negroes in faded blue overalls; there were even more in stylish Ivy League suits. They swirled around the Monument's assembly ground, ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, passed around canteens filled with water (Washington had prohibited the sale of liquor for the day), tried to keep track of their children with no conspicuous success...
...violence were to occur, it would probably have been set off by a scruffy-looking bunch of about 50 white men who stood across 15th Street from the Monument grounds, staring balefully at the assembling civil rights marchers. These were members of the nitwit American Nazi Party, led by George Lincoln Rockwell. Prohibited by cops from crossing over to the Monument grounds, Rockwell could only rage helplessly: "I can't stand niggers. I can't stand to hear We Shall Overcome." Even before the march started, he led his ridiculous group away from the vicinity in an agony...
...march from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, a distance of about eight-tenths of a mile, had been scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m. But at least 20 minutes before then, a group of Negroes started strolling away from the Monument grounds on the way to the Memorial. Hundreds, then thousands and tens of thousands, followed. Constitution and Independence Avenues were transformed into oceans of bobbing placards. Some marchers wept as they walked; the faces of many more gleamed with happiness. There were no brass bands. There was little shouting or singing. Instead, for over an hour...