political demonstration held in Washington, D.C. (Washington), in 1963 by civil rights (civil rights movement) leaders to protest racial discrimination and to show support for major civil rights legislation that was pending in Congress.

On Aug. 28, 1963, an interracial assembly of more than 200,000 people gathered peaceably in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial to demand equal justice for all citizens under the law. The crowd was uplifted by the emotional strength and prophetic quality of the address given by Martin Luther King, Jr., (King, Martin Luther, Jr.) that came to be known as the “I Have a Dream” speech, in which he emphasized his faith that all men, someday, would be brothers. The rising tide of civil rights agitation greatly influenced national opinion and resulted in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, guaranteeing equal voting rights, outlawing discrimination in restaurants, theatres, and other public accommodations involved in interstate commerce, and encouraging school desegregation.