UPDATED: 8:00 a.m. Aug. 28, 2023
The importance of the calendar date August 28 in the context of Black history in the United States gets underscored on an annual basis. This year, though, it should be no secret why the date is a big deal as the nation commemorates the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
On Saturday, civil rights leaders and organizations converged on the nation’s capital to amplify ongoing demands like renewing calls for voter protections that are being systematically stripped away from legally registered voters trying to cast ballots in local and national elections.
The rally was held in thew spirit of the first March on Washington in 1963 when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic “I Have A Dream” speech. That is just one reason why August 28 is a date that will forever be important for Black Americans.
The day also marks some extreme highs and lows in Black history: a major political win; the death of a young boy whose name has been etched into the hearts of African Americans; and one of the most iconic moments in the civil rights movement. Ava DuVernay produced a film, “August 28th,” that was shown at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2016.
Here are some snapshots of the seminal stories that give significance to this date.
Slavery Abolished In The U.K. – 1833
The Slavery Abolition Act was approved by Parliament on this day in 1833. The act abolished slavery in most British colonies and freed more than 800,000 enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and South Africa, as well as a small number in Canada.
The Murder Of Emmett Till – 1955
Till, a 14-year-old boy from Chicago, was abducted by two white men and brutally murdered while visiting family in Mississippi in 1955. The young man’s life was taken by the husband of Carolyn Bryant, a white woman who said the teen made advances…
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