Keeping Their Many Eyes on the Prize

The view that Dr. King saw.

We concluded our week-long focus on activities scheduled to coincide with the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial by viewing "The March" at the National Archives McGowan Theater today.

The 33-minute documentary, directed by James Blue, uses actual footage from the times to capture the 1963 protest for jobs and freedom, which proved to be the most historic Civil Rights gathering of the 60s era and gave a setting for Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

In addition to the inspiring speech from Dr. King, the black and white film captured many images specific to the early 60s. For example, many of the extremely orderly crowd of more than 200,000 were dressed in attire befitting church attendance. In one shot, an on-duty National Parks officer was shown smoking a cigarette while Marian Anderson performed. The documentary also showed the large number of white clergy and young teenagers who marched and listened on that August day.

When the lights came on after the showing, a gentleman sitting in front of us, explaining that he had arrived a minute into the showing, asked if there had been any opening credits.  "I was at the march," he said, a simple statement that launched a 15-minute back and forth discussion that ranged from the relative merits of John Sayles "The Return of the Secaucus 7" compared to "The Big Chill" to favorite free DC museums to lamentations about the loss of quality independent book stores nationwide.

As we learned, Philip Levy, who has operated Bridge Street Books in Georgetown for 31 years, said he was 18 at the time of the historic DC march.  He and some friends sold posters (kind of a collage, he recalled) behind the Lincoln Memorial. "I couldn't see what was going on, but I heard everything," Levy said.  He noted that his positioning did allow him to see actors Paul Newman and Marlon Brando and have a brief conversation with writer Norman Mailer, who was covering the event for Esquire magazine.

With my love of books, I obviously promised Levy that we would soon visit his Georgetown store.  I warned him, however, to be prepared, as I had been known to spend hours in bookstores. "That's fine as long as you buy something," Levy said with a smile as we parted to find out what Hurricane Irene had in store for us and the DC area.

Traveler's Tip:
You do not have to stand in the long lines that can exist for regular Archive viewing to attend any showing at the McGowan Theater.  Simply use the Special Events/Group entrance on Constitution Avenue.  After being screened, you follow the signs to the theater.  After your performance, you can tour the rest of the archives offerings without re-entry. I highly recommend checking out the gift shop  which has some unique offerings including a T-shirt commemorating the almost surreal meeting between then-President Richard Nixon and Elvis Presley.