As the Civil Rights Bill stalled in Congress, movement leaders caucused to urge its enactment. They also endorsed a plan to March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom revived by AFL-CIO vice president A. Philip Randolph. He first proposed it in 1941.

Plans proceeded; the NAACP and Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) even set aside a dispute on direct action protest. Civil rights, religious, and social organizations across the country successfully enlisted marchers. Though the Kennedy Administration feared a congressional backlash, the planners reiterated their commitment to nonviolence, racial integration, and equal opportunity.

The march to the Lincoln Memorial was historic. Many accounts note its size (250,000, then the largest in American history) and the great speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) chair John Lewis had strong criticisms of the Administration in his text. But Randolph persuaded him to omit them, thus reflecting the movement's unity in pressing for Federal legislation. Hope was alive.