-
His speech gathered so many people together in unity. His speech inspired other activists to start marches and stand up for change. -
In 1975, Louis Farrakhan was disappointed that he hadn't become the new leader the after Elijah Muhammad's death. This led to him creating his own group in 1978, called the Nation of Islam. He decided to keep the same values Muhammad had and to also focus more specifically on black nationalism. -
This assembly was led by Louis Farrakhan (the Nation of Islam leader) and he called for the African-American community to come together. He told everyone who was able to come out and march in Washington DC. For those who weren't, he told them to stay home from work and keep their kids from school to show unity. -
The March started a Muslim call to prayer and a Christian invocation. Then the event presented famous African American Speakers, like Maya Angelou. The speeches consisted of motivating the community and not buying anything that doesn't support black businesses. Initially, reports said the march had less than 500,000 people present but there were actually about 850,000 people. Toward the end, they made a pledge to implement change and then sent home to take action. -
Due to this march, we've seen a drastic increase in black men registering to vote. The year following the event, over 1.5 million black men registered to vote. Another big change was introducing more people to Islam. Their pledge contained new expectations like no drinking or smoking, similar to what's followed in the religion of Islam. -
After Farrakhan was diagnosed with prostate cancer, he shifted the group away from black nationalism and more toward spreading the teachings of Orthodox Islam.