Their voices carried over the stillness of the water, reaching more than 250,000 peaceful souls, at the time the largest gathering on the grounds, people, both Black and white, standing shoulder to shoulder down the entire third of a mile length of the water.

“There [she] was . . . already the queen of folk, and a new, gravel-voiced singer . . . As they sang, people were packed twenty deep under the trees, sitting on each other's shoulders, and dipping their tired feet” into the pool, according to one historical retrospective.

They sang:

“Oh, the time will come up

When the winds will stop

And the breeze will cease to be breathin'

Like the stillness in the wind

Before the hurricane begins

The hour that the ship comes in . . .”

It was the summer of 1963, during the March of Washington. Peter, Paul, and Mary had earlier performed their studio cover of "Blowin' in the Wind", which was a massive, number-two hit on the radio that summer, asking the crowd:

“How many roads must a man walk down

Before you call him a man?

How many seas must a white dove sail

Before she sleeps in the sand?

Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly

Before they're forever banned?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind.”

Afterwards, Bob “Dylan and [Joan] Baez stood together to sing ‘When the Ship Comes In’—an allegorical song Dylan wrote about a grand, metaphorical ship arriving to overthrow unyielding, oppressive authorities,” according to Hodder Education Magazines.

“And the seas will split

And the ship will hit

And the sands on the shoreline will be shaking

Then the tide will sound

And the wind will pound

And the morning will be breaking.”

Hello, everyone, this is Jon. As we look forward to the nation's 250th birthday, thought I'd do a new story on a historic event that took place in front of the Reflecting Pool at our nation's capital. Both Doc and I have done stories about that famous day in our history, but I wanted to look at it from another angle. I hope you find it as enlightening as I did researching it.

~~~

Before 1963, the previous benchmark for a massive cultural gathering at the reflecting pool was Marian Anderson’s historic 1939 concert.

As Peace Page readers will recall, Anderson had been denied the right to perform at Washington’s Constitution Hall due to segregation practices at the time. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt stepped in and invited her instead to sing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

An integrated crowd of 75,000 people stood along the National Mall and the reflecting pool to listen, while millions more tuned in via a live nationwide radio broadcast.

When she sang, "My Country, 'Tis of Thee”, she changed the lyrics from "Of thee I sing" to "Sweet land of liberty, of thee *we* sing,” which transformed a solo performance into a declaration of community, solidarity, and shared ownership of America’s promises for the integrated crowd stretching down the water.

Mary McLeod Bethune, educator and civil rights leader, said, "I can still see the sun hitting that water. When Marian Anderson sang 'My Country, 'Tis of Thee,' her voice didn't just hit the crowd; it seemed to skip across the top of the Reflecting Pool and echo off the stone of the monuments. It was a holy moment."

Of note, listening on the radio that day was a young,10-year-old named Martin Luther King Jr., who would 24 years later deliver his "I Have a Dream" speech to a crowd that once again lined the reflecting pool.”

[After 1963, also before the reflecting pool, the anti-Vietnam War March on the Pentagon in 1967, which drew about 100,000 to the pool. Decades later, on January 18, 2009, the "We Are One" Barack Obama Inaugural Celebration concert drew an estimated 400,000 people, who filled the entire perimeter of the reflecting pool.]

~~~

“Oh, the fishes will laugh

As they swim out of the path

And the seagulls they'll be smiling

And the rocks on the sand

Will proudly stand

The hour that the ship comes in.”

The reflecting pool since those events have been “used as a literal mirror to ask if America is truly reflecting the ideals carved into the marble monuments surrounding it,” according to Google.

Park rangers describing the pool to visitors and its relationship to the monuments around it, "The pool is a mirror where two eras meet. At one end, the man who founded the nation [Washington]; at the other, the man who saved it [Lincoln]. In the water between them, we see ourselves."

At the March on Washington, A. Philip Randolph said, "As I look out over this great assembly, I see a magnificent spectacle. The reflection of your faces in the beautiful waters of the reflecting pool is a symbol of a new day that is dawning for our country."

John Lewis said, "We sat on the edge of the Reflecting Pool, our feet dangling in the water, listening to the voices carrying over the loudspeakers. It felt like the whole world was watching us, and for the first time, we felt seen."

“There is something about the symmetry of the Reflecting Pool that forces a quietness on you. It demands that you look down into the water, and in doing so, look back at everything this country has traveled through," said historian David McCullough.

In her memoir “And a Voice to Sing With”, Joan Baez recalled the sheer visual of looking out past the microphone toward the water:

"I looked out at the sea of faces, stretching all the way down the Reflecting Pool to the Washington Monument. There was a quietness that settled over the crowd when Bobby and I stepped up . . . The water just seemed to hold the sound and reflect the gravity of why we were all there."

~~~

[Note, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the recent controversy in the news about the reflecting pool, but to that, I'll let Bob Dylan and Joan Baez finish their song:

“And the words that are used

For to get the ship confused

Will not be understood as they're spoken

For the chains of the sea

Will have busted in the night

And will be buried at the bottom of the ocean

A song will lift

As the mainsail shifts

And the boat drifts on to the shoreline

And the sun will respect

Every face on the deck

The hour that the ship comes in

Then the sands will roll

Out a carpet of gold

For your weary toes to be a-touchin'

And the ship's wise men

Will remind you once again

That the whole wide world is watchin'

Oh, the foes will rise

With the sleep still in their eyes

And they'll jerk from their beds and think they're dreamin'

But they'll pinch themselves and squeal

And know that it's for real

The hour when the ship comes in

Then they'll raise their hands

Sayin' we'll meet all your demands

But we'll shout from the bow your days are numbered

And like Pharaoh's tribe

They'll be drownded in the tide

And like Goliath, they'll be conquered.”

~~~

And, to end this post, I'll leave it to Mary Travers (of Peter, Paul and Mary) on the other important song that day, "Blowin' in the Wind”, the undisputed anthem of the march:

"Because the song speaks of caring, of listening to one another. It is so easy today to not see the things that are happening around you... But the responsibility—and it is a responsibility—we do not have freedom as a gift... That’s what the song speaks of. Of listening, and watching, and being careful not to lose this liberty."

~~~

“How many years must a mountain exist

Before it is washed to the sea?

Yes, and how many years can some people exist

Before they're allowed to be free?

Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head

And pretend that he just doesn't see?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind

The answer is blowin' in the wind

Yes, and how many times must a man look up

Before he can see the sky?

Yes, and how many ears must one man have

Before he can hear people cry?

Yes, and how many deaths will it take 'til he knows

That too many people have died?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind

The answer is blowin' in the wind.”

~ jsr