
The civil rights leader and union president was a key organizer for the 1963 "March on Washington" (see Labor History below); organized by black labor activists who called not only for an end to prejudice, but also for a federal jobs program, equality at work, and increasing the minimum wage. Martin Luther King delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech at the 1963 march, which was a factor in the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.