Advocating the Dream: 7 notable mass gatherings of the Civil Rights Movement
Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom — 1957
The year after he gained national attention for the Montgomery Bus Boycott, King held a civil rights rally at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., known as the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom.
The pilgrimage, which had an estimated 25,000 attendees, had the goal of coaxing the Eisenhower administration into taking a more active role in desegregation following the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education.
In addition to King, other notable speakers at the rally included A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins and Mahalia Jackson, while notable attendees included Ralph Abernathy, Rosa Parks and Harry Belafonte.
“While organizers of the Prayer Pilgrimage to Washington for Freedom voiced disappointment that the crowd failed to reach its anticipated attendance of fifty thousand people, at the time it occurred, the march earned the distinction of being the largest organized demonstration for civil rights, and was instrumental in laying the groundwork for future marches on the nation's capitol,” the Civil Rights Digital Library noted.
