TWU Remembers the March on Washington, 60 Years Ago
The TWU gave public, financial, and practical assistance to the Civil Rights Movement, including participating in rallies and pickets in the South, and establishing a fund to pay the bail of those arrested protesting segregation in restaurants. In NYC, TWU broke the color barrier for transit jobs, enabling African Americans to obtain better paying positions beyond the Porter title.
The organizers of today’s march, however, rightly are focusing on the need to keep up the work, including fighting for federal voting rights legislation. As King’s eldest son, Martin Luther King III, said earlier this week: “Dad talked about eradicating the triple evils of poverty, racism, and violence....Just about any problem that we are faced with in our nation falls under one of those categories. So, we have to be more vigilant, we have to be more engaged, we have to be more, in fact we are, more determined than ever to actually address these great issues.”
Let’s take pride in our past but commit ourselves to also working towards a better future.