In a preview of this week’s special Moyers & Company exploring the momentous August 1963 March on Washington, Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), who gave one of the major speeches that day, talks with Bill about the hopefulness he felt surveying the crowd he was about to address.
Many heroes of the civil rights movement spoke, including — most memorably — Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. — but Lewis, who was 23 at the time, is the only one still alive. In the full show, Lewis shares new insight into how the event unfolded and the impact it had and continues to have on American culture and politics.
“I looked to my right. I saw all of these young people from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Then I looked to my left. I saw many young people, black and white, up in trees trying to get a better view of the platform. Then I looked straight ahead. And I just started speaking,” Lewis tells Bill. “We wanted everyone to participate. We wanted to move toward the creation of an America… where no one would be left out or left behind.”