The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Williams, Yohuru and Long, Michael G., More Than a Dream: The Radical March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, 2023. Kindle Edition.

In 1940, A. Philip Randolph and two others want to fight against segregation in the military. To do this, they plan a massive march in Washington. News of the march reaches President Roosevelt. In order to avoid the march, President Roosevelt issues an executive order prohibiting discrimination based on “race, creed, color, or national origin” in both the defense industry and the government (6). While actual segregation does not end, the executive order is considered a success by Randolph, and he calls off the march. This demonstrates the power that massive marches, even those that never actually occur, can have on political decisions.

In the early 1960s, Randolph again considers a march with fellow civil rights activist, Bayard Rustin. Employment is a major problem for Black Americans at this time because mechanization has taken a lot of the jobs they previously held. Since the workers cannot find work, they plan a march for jobs. Randolph and Rustin meet with two socialists, Tom Kahn and Norman Hill. The four decide on a march to fight for jobs for all people. Socialists believe that it is the government’s job to help retrain displaced workers. Additionally, they believe it is the government’s job to ensure good jobs are available for all.

Martin Luther King Jr has been working in Birmingham, Alabama, and his efforts prompt President John F Kennedy to call for the passage of a civil rights bill. Knowing that the government will not pass such a bill unless pressured to do so, King decides to join forces with those planning the march for jobs and make it a march for both jobs and freedom. At first, President Kennedy is against the march because he believes the timing of it could turn people away and could harm the odds that the civil rights bill will be passed. The organizers, first known as the Big Six and later as the Big Ten, continue to plan their march. Eventually, President Kennedy comes out publicly in support of the march. Meanwhile, Malcolm X, another civil rights leader who is not concerned with nonviolence, speaks out against the march. He does not want equality. Instead, he wants a separate state for Black people and for Black people to join the Nation of Islam.

People work hard behind the scenes to get as many people to the march as possible. In the days leading up to the march, people come from all over the country to attend. March workers work tirelessly to find ways for people who want to attend to get there. In the end, over 250,000 people will attend the march. People come to support the march for various reasons including to advocate for equal schooling, to fight for jobs, and to protest the end to police brutality. Others come to commemorate those who lost their lives due to racial violence.

Debates rage over who should be allowed to speak and what language and words should be included in the speeches. Much of the debate is over how militant sounding the language should be. Some want words like revolution and masses included while others do not. Organizers and government workers want to ensure that the march and the speakers do not hinder the likelihood of the civil rights bill being passed by turning people off from the cause. In the end, hundreds of thousands of people participate in the peaceful march. Famous musicians, including Bob Dylan and Mahalia Jackson, perform. Martin Luther King Jr delivers his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. After pledging their support for the cause, march attendees leave, having been called on to bring the fight for equal rights to their own lives. As the book ends, the major players in the march do not know what or any impact the march will have on the civil rights movement, “but the 250,000 marchers had already made history” (228).

The story is told through narration and the inclusion of primary documents. These documents include photographs, newspaper articles, and other documents pertaining to the march. After the narrative portion of the story is complete, the authors include additional facts that were not included in the text of the story as well as a list of questions for the reader to consider.