February 11, 2009 2:24 PM
- Text
Remembering The "Dream" As Obama Lives It
(CBS)
The day 45 years ago, when Martin Luther King, Jr., took the big stage to give his big speech - was also filled with countless people who played small-but-important roles, out of the spotlight.
For example, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a delegate to Congress representing the District of Columbia.
"So where were you exactly when Dr. King spoke," CBS News correspondent Byron Pitts asked her.
"Oh, I was, as they say, backstage," she said. "I was behind him, back in the recesses of the Lincoln Memorial itself."
Holmes Norton, 71, was a 26-year-old law student in 1963, an activist in the movement.
"To tell you the truth, I was more fascinated by the crowds than the speakers, because it seemed almost inconceivable that we had succeeded in bringing this many people to Washington," she told Pitts.
Patty and Bob Bender organized 17 buses from Newark, N.J. A young engaged couple, the speech was just days before their wedding.
As Patty remembers it: "It is a blistering hot day; people are passing out all over. We were just in front of the reflecting pool, and crowded in, but everybody, when they took out their food shared food with whoever was sitting near."
"Is that right?" Pitts asked.
"Oh, it was beautiful," Patty said.
Eloquence on the stage - energy in the crowd, and a palatable taste of danger in the air. This was 1963. The nation was tense. That day in Washington, D.C., security was both needed and feared.
"There were tremendous fear from conservative and liberal supporters of the march that there might be violence," said Rachelle Horowitz, who was at the time a college dropout who had become director of transportation for the March on Washington. "There had never been any like this in Washington."
And Rev. Joseph Lowery, a longtime friend of Dr. King's, who was co-founder of the SCLC - Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
"I never heard him more inspired," Lowery said. "He was; he brought his 'A' game and God put his 'A' spirit in him that day, and he spoke to the world."
These four people, all part of history then, all say they will watch history being made tonight.
"Barack Obama is a certain part of the dream. When he announced for president, I had already signed on for Hillary's campaign," said Horowitz. "I knew Hillary from the White House, and I kept saying to myself and to other people that my head is with Hillary but my heart is with Obama."
Does Holmes Norton see some of herself in young people today?
"Forty-five years ago we had a candidate. It was 'freedom now.' They have a real, live, breathing candidate: it's Barack Obama. Forty-five years ago we were them, and 45 years later, they are us," she said.
Pitts asked Lowery what he thinks his friend Dr. King would say about this moment.
"I think he would be just as awestruck, awestricken as I," he said. "He would be pleased that we've moved one place that he called us to go - to judge our children by the content of their character and not the color of their skin."
For example, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a delegate to Congress representing the District of Columbia.
"So where were you exactly when Dr. King spoke," CBS News correspondent Byron Pitts asked her.
"Oh, I was, as they say, backstage," she said. "I was behind him, back in the recesses of the Lincoln Memorial itself."
Holmes Norton, 71, was a 26-year-old law student in 1963, an activist in the movement.
"To tell you the truth, I was more fascinated by the crowds than the speakers, because it seemed almost inconceivable that we had succeeded in bringing this many people to Washington," she told Pitts.
Patty and Bob Bender organized 17 buses from Newark, N.J. A young engaged couple, the speech was just days before their wedding.
As Patty remembers it: "It is a blistering hot day; people are passing out all over. We were just in front of the reflecting pool, and crowded in, but everybody, when they took out their food shared food with whoever was sitting near."
"Is that right?" Pitts asked.
"Oh, it was beautiful," Patty said.
Eloquence on the stage - energy in the crowd, and a palatable taste of danger in the air. This was 1963. The nation was tense. That day in Washington, D.C., security was both needed and feared.
"There were tremendous fear from conservative and liberal supporters of the march that there might be violence," said Rachelle Horowitz, who was at the time a college dropout who had become director of transportation for the March on Washington. "There had never been any like this in Washington."
And Rev. Joseph Lowery, a longtime friend of Dr. King's, who was co-founder of the SCLC - Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
"I never heard him more inspired," Lowery said. "He was; he brought his 'A' game and God put his 'A' spirit in him that day, and he spoke to the world."
These four people, all part of history then, all say they will watch history being made tonight.
"Barack Obama is a certain part of the dream. When he announced for president, I had already signed on for Hillary's campaign," said Horowitz. "I knew Hillary from the White House, and I kept saying to myself and to other people that my head is with Hillary but my heart is with Obama."
Does Holmes Norton see some of herself in young people today?
"Forty-five years ago we had a candidate. It was 'freedom now.' They have a real, live, breathing candidate: it's Barack Obama. Forty-five years ago we were them, and 45 years later, they are us," she said.
Pitts asked Lowery what he thinks his friend Dr. King would say about this moment.
"I think he would be just as awestruck, awestricken as I," he said. "He would be pleased that we've moved one place that he called us to go - to judge our children by the content of their character and not the color of their skin."
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