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WASHINGTON — It's been 60 years since the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, but Fatima Cortez Todd says she still remembers the sense of unity she felt standing on the National Mall that day.
"We sat with each other; we sang with each other," she said. "I felt taken care of. I felt a brother and sisterhood."
On Aug. 28, 1963, Cortez Todd was among an estimated 250,000 people who rallied for jobs and freedom at the March on Washington.
History has documented how throngs of people gathered near the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to hear what would become the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic "I Have a Dream" speech.
But some who attended the march tell CNN they can recall more subtle moments that still resonate today. At a time when the country was bitterly divided along racial lines — with segregation still legal — Cortez Todd, now 77, said she clearly remembers the diversity of those gathered on the National Mall.
"It was a melting pot like this country is supposed to be, and that was the best reflection of that possibility," she said.
Decades later, children who marched, protested and fought during the Civil Rights Movement are now our elders. As the world pauses to mark the 60th anniversary of the march, the children of the movement reflect on the progress the U.S. has made in the fight for civil rights and how far they say the nation still needs need to go.
Fatima Cortez Todd, 77
Cortez Todd was raised in the Civil Rights Movement. Her mom, Marie Witherspoon, was an activist who worked alongside Coretta Scott King.
As a 17-year-old woman of Black, Puerto Rican and Native American heritage, Cortez Todd said she knew going to the march "was something important to do."
She earned a seat on a Riverdale, New York, bus bound for Washington by volunteering to help make banners. Sixty years later, she said she remembers the iconic scenes of the day, but it was the moments she experienced in a crowd of strangers, like sharing a sandwich or uniting their voices in song, that left an indelible mark.
She also recalls how A. Philip Randolph, an organizer of the march and a labor rights leader, asked the crowd to pledge "unequivocally and without regard to personal sacrifice, to the achievement of social peace through social justice."
"We made a pledge that day," she recalled. "If we had done even those key things, we would not be where we are now."
Cortez Todd said she feels the country has not lived up to the promises of the march. But her experiences that day taught her an invaluable lesson: "I have to always speak up," she said.
Edith Lee-Payne, 73
For Edith Lee-Payne, the day of the march was special for a second reason: It also happened to be her 12th birthday. Sixty years later, Lee-Payne said she remembers arriving at the march early so her aunt could volunteer with the Red Cross.
"It was a reflection of America — of what America should be," she said. "Everybody just getting along … respecting each other. We don't see that today."
A photo of Lee-Payne on the mall that day later became one of the iconic images of the march. When it came time for King's speech, Lee-Payne said she remembers hearing gospel singer and civil rights activist Mahalia Jackson encouraging him to "tell them about the dream."
Those words would inspire the civil rights leader to improvise much of the second half of his speech, drawing on a refrain he'd used before. It would become one of the great American speeches, "I Have a Dream."
As he spoke, the mall was so quiet, Lee-Payne recalled, "you could hear a pin drop."
While progress has undoubtedly been made toward economic equality in the intervening decades, Lee-Payne said she believes efforts to erase Black history and the murder of George Floyd show the country is "not there" on racial equality.
"We're not there because too many people still don't want to be," she said.
It's important, she said, for the next generation to know their history and be willing to fight to preserve that history and their rights.
Edward Flanagan, 80
Edward Flanagan remembers racing to the National Mall from nearby McLean, Virginia.
"I wanted to do something that could possibly help … marching seemed so little … but I wanted to do something," Flanagan told CNN.
Then a 20-year-old student at Howard University, Flanagan said he remembers seeing everyone dressed in their "Sunday best."
"It was an electric atmosphere and environment because of all the people who were there," Flanagan said, adding that it felt like a "church picnic."
But decades later, he said he feels the dream King spoke of that day "has yet to be realized."
"There was, at the time, a hope that this was going to be a watershed, a turning point. It did not happen," he said.
Flanagan said he feels some of the gains that were made during the civil rights movement have been eroded, particularly after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But he said he remains hopeful that future generations will continue to fight for equality.
"We are still, while in a much better place than we were in '63, not in the place where one would expect 60 years on," Flanagan said.
