Voices from the March on Washington

Home / Books / Voices from the March on Washington

By J. Patrick Lewis & George Ella Lyon

The poems in this collection weave together multiple voices to tell the story of the March on Washington, DC, on August 28, 1963. From the woman singing through a terrifying bus ride to DC, to the teenager who came partly because his father told him, “Don’t you dare go to that march,” to the young child riding above the crowd on her father’s shoulders, each voice brings a unique perspective. Six fictional characters tell their tales of this historic day in cycles of linked poems alongside the points of view of historical figures and other March participants. As the characters tell their personal stories of this historic day, their chorus plunges readers into the experience of being at the March —walking shoulder-to-shoulder with strangers, hearing Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous speech, heading home inspired. Book description courtesy Highlights; used with permission.