The March on Washington: fifty years ago, more than 250,000 people marched on Washington, D.C., demanding an end to racial segregation.

• Author: Zissou, Rebecca
• Position: TIMES PAST 1963

Around 10 p.m. on Aug. 18, 1963, three black teens left their hometown of Gadsden, Alabama, walking north along U.S. Highway 11. With their parents' reluctant support, Robert Avery, 15, James Foster Smith, 16, and Frank Thomas, 17, set out on a 684-mile trip to the nation's capital. The Carver High School students were on their way to what would become the largest civil rights march in American history.

Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. and other black leaders, the teens had been involved in civil rights protests throughout the summer, boycotting local businesses that discriminated against blacks and staging sit-ins at segregated lunch counters. So when they heard about plans for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom--better known today as the March on Washington--they knew they had to be there to demand greater rights for African-Americans.

"We couldn't afford to ... ride the bus," says Avery, now 65. "So we hitchhiked."

Despite the dangers young blacks faced hitchhiking through the South at the height of the civil rights movement, Avery says the people who picked them up over the next three days--mostly whites--were friendly and supportive. "They understood what we were doing and why we were doing it," he says.

The trio arrived in Washington, D.C., a week before the march and helped set up. They worked alongside thousands of other activists--many arriving on buses and trains chartered by civil rights groups, including the N.A.A.C.P. (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). In the sweltering heat, they made signs reading, "We march for jobs for all now!" and "We demand equal rights!" The following week, on August 28, hundreds of thousands of people crammed the National Mall to call for equal rights and to hear King's now-famous "I Have a Dream" speech--a milestone of the civil fights movement.

Growing up in Alabama, the boys had encountered segregation on a daily basis. Avery remembers seeing separate water fountains for blacks and whites around Gadsden and not being allowed to eat at some restaurants. Though the Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that segregated public schools were unconstitutional (see Timeline, pp. 18-19), segregation remained a way of life in parts of the U.S., especially in the South, where Jim Crow laws and customs prevailed. Public places like movie theaters, parks, and hospitals remained segregated, and many businesses refused to serve blacks.

One of the hubs of the civil rights movement was Birmingham, Alabama--an hour from where Avery and his friends grew up. Under the leadership of King--then a young, charismatic Baptist minister--thousands participated in nonviolent protests, boycotts, and voter-registration drives. But things became violent in May 1963, when police officers turned dogs and high-pressure water hoses on peaceful protesters in Kelly Ingram Park. Officers arrested thousands of black youths--some as young as 4 years old. Graphic images of the encounter shocked the nation, helping increase public support for civil rights.

Soon after, King joined A. Philip Randolph, who founded the first black labor union, and other civil rights leaders in planning the March on Washington. They wanted to get...