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Today is the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous (and amazingly, partially-improvised) "I Have a Dream" speech. So what was it like to be there in the midst of this historic civil rights demonstration? We combed the photo archives at the Associated Press to put the together a photo diary of the event.
Here Roosevelt Nesmith of New Jersey visits the Washington Monument with his three-year-old son the day before the march. You can see the stacks of signs that demonstrators would carry the next day.
Volunteers prepare the signs to be passed out.
Marchers traveled to Washington, D.C. from all across the country for the march. Here, sit-in singers rehearse while waiting for their bus to D.C. in New Haven.
Demonstrators from Pittsburgh (including YWCA and church members) arrive at Union Station the morning of the march.
One man, Leder Smith, roller skated all the way from Chicago. Here he is starting his journey on Michigan Avenue.
More arrive by bus.
And some high-profile guests came by plane. Here are (from left) opera singer Marian Anderson, executive secretary of the NAACP Roy Wilkins, actor Paul Newman, Rev. Robert Spike of the National Council of Churches in New York City, and actress Faye Emerson.