As my colleagues report, tens of thousands of people from across the country streamed onto the National Mall on Saturday for a daylong celebration of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

It was on Aug. 28, 1963, that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The speech and the march helped bring about passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.