Their presence not only led to increased media attention – it also helped ease some of then-President John F. Harry Belafonte, actor and singer, extensively advocated for the match, bringing other celebrities to the march and encouraging studio heads in Hollywood to allow other actors to attend. People came from all over the country to attend, with one boy – Robert Avery, who was just 15 years old – hitchhiking almost 700 miles from Alabama to reach Washington.Ĭelebrities, too, traveled to attend the march. The March on Washington was a revolutionary event at the time. His pivotal speech not only helped bring the Civil Rights Movement even more to the forefront, it also pressured Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act, which they did the following year. spoke these historic words: “I have a dream.”
As a crowd of nearly 250,000 people gathered outside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Rev.
