Mandy Carter: Scientist of Activism
RALLYING THE PEOPLE
Marching on the National Mall has a long history going back to the nineteenth century. The National Park Service, which regulates the Mall, is required to respect the free speech rights of Americans, making it a safe and symbolic space. Perhaps the most famous march to happen there was the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” where Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. Mandy Carter was deeply inspired by the march’s organizers, especially openly gay Civil Rights leader Bayard Rustin. Carter would go on to mobilize many marches herself.
When President Kennedy introduced a Civil Rights Bill in 1963, the nation's most influential Civil Rights leaders called for a rally to signal their support. On August 28, 1963, the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” drew 250,000 people to the Lincoln Memorial to hear Martin Luther King Jr. give his “I Have a Dream” speech, inspired by this rally, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Bayard Rustin coordinated the March on Washington and the movement it inspired. A leader of social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and LGBTQ rights, Rustin has been a deeply inspirational figure in Mandy Carter’s life.
The “Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights,” on October 11, 1987, was attended by 750,000 people. Its success, size, scope, and historical importance have led it to be called “The Great March.” The event marked the first national coverage of AIDS activists, who were prominent in the main march. This poster depicts the AIDS Quilt viewing area on the National Mall.
Martin Luther King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, joined marchers on August 23, 2003, to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the first March on Washington, and to reckon with the state of civil rights in the U.S., which they termed the “dream deferred.” Mandy Carter participated in planning this march.
The “March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation” took place thirty years ago on April 25, 1993. Organizers estimated that around a million people attended. Mandy Carter mobilized people from around the South to be there. That same year, Carter and five other lesbian activists founded Southerners On New Ground (SONG). The organization works to build, connect, and sustain those in the South who believe in liberation across all lines of race, class, culture, gender, and sexuality.
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