<P> One of the basic points in your statement is that the action that I and my associates have taken in Birmingham is untimely...Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct - action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation . For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity . This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never ." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied ." We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God - given rights . </P> <P> The most dramatic moments of the Birmingham campaign came on May 2, when, under the direction and leadership of James Bevel, who would soon officially become SCLC's Director of Direct Action and Director of Nonviolent Education, more than 1,000 Black children left school to join the demonstrations; hundreds were arrested . The following day, 2,500 more students joined and were met by Bull Connor with police dogs and high - pressure fire hoses . That evening, television news programs reported to the nation and the world scenes of fire hoses knocking down schoolchildren and dogs attacking individual demonstrators . Public outrage led the Kennedy administration to intervene more forcefully and a settlement was announced on May 10, under which the downtown businesses would desegregate and eliminate discriminatory hiring practices, and the city would release the jailed protesters . </P> <P> After the Birmingham Campaign, SCLC called for massive protests in Washington, DC, to push for new civil rights legislation that would outlaw segregation nationwide . A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin issued similar calls for a March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom . On July 2, 1963, King, Randolph, and Rustin met with James Farmer Jr. of the Congress of Racial Equality, John Lewis of SNCC, Roy Wilkins of the NAACP, and Whitney Young of the Urban League to plan a united march on August 28 . </P> <P> The media and political establishment viewed the march with great fear and trepidation over the possibility that protesters would run riot in the streets of the capital . But despite their fears, the March on Washington was a huge success, with no violence, and an estimated number of participants ranging from 200,000 to 300,000 . It was also a logistical triumph--more than 2,000 buses, 21 special trains, 10 chartered aircraft, and uncounted autos converged on the city in the morning and departed without difficulty by nightfall . </P>

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