August 28th will mark the 50th anniversary of the historic March on Washington, where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I have a dream” speech. To honor the legacy of that march, local groups staged a “Pre-March on Miami” yesterday.
About 200 people marched through a neighborhood in West Little River. The march was organized by the 93rd Street Community Baptist Church and the A. Philip Randolph Institute.
Randolph founded the first recognized labor union of African-Americans, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, in 1925. The March on Washington was originally Randolph’s idea, dating back to 1941.He organized the 1963 March on Washington and invited Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to speak.
Lovette McGill, president of the Miami-Dade A. Philip Randolph Institute, said, "Organized labor and the faith community have always built a relationship, and it is my personal mission in Miami-Dade County once again to bring that back to the movement. We are fighting the same fights. "
National commemorations of the historic 1963 march will take place this August 24th and 28th in Washington.