District of Columbia

Although miles away from the central battlegrounds of the Civil Rights Movement, Washington, D.C., was never far from the hearts and minds of civil rights activists and demonstrators. They knew they would have to capture the attention of their nation’s political leaders and do so in an extraordinary way. And thus the March on Washington became known to an entire country, its leaders and generations to come as 250,000 people marched and gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial to hear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech. Today, visitors can envision the scene as they stand next to the Lincoln Memorial. They can explore the National Museum of African American History and Culture and reflect on our nation’s progress. And they can even step inside the courtroom that was the force behind many landmark civil rights rulings across the U.S.