Million Man March

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The Million Man March was a large gathering of African-American men in Washington, D.C., on October 16, 1995. Called by Louis Farrakhan, it was held on and around the National Mall. The National African American Leadership Summit, a leading group of civil rights activists and the Nation of Islam working with scores of civil rights organizations, including many local chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (but not the national NAACP) formed the Million Man March Organizing Committee. The founder of the National African American Leadership Summit, Benjamin Chavis Jr., served as National Director of the Million Man March.

The committee invited many prominent speakers to address the audience, and African-American men from across the United States converged in Washington to "convey to the world a vastly different picture of the Black male"^[1]: 152 and to unite in self-help and self-defense against economic and social ills plaguing the African-American community.

The march took place in the context of a larger grassroots movement that set out to win politicians' attention for urban and minority issues through widespread voter registration campaigns.^[2]: 245 On the same day, there was a parallel event called the Day of Absence, organized by women in conjunction with the March leadership, which was intended to engage the large population of Black Americans who would not be able to attend the demonstration in Washington. On this date, all Blacks were encouraged to stay home from their usual school, work, and social engagements, in favor of attending teach-ins, and worship services, focusing on the struggle for a healthy and self-sufficient Black community. Further, organizers of the Day of Absence hoped to use the occasion to make great headway on their voter registration drive.^[1]: 147

A conflict arose about crowd size estimates between March organizers and National Park Service officials. The National Park Service issued an estimate of about 400,000 attendees,^[3] a number significantly lower than march organizers had hoped for.^[2]: 243 After a heated exchange between leaders of the march and the NPS, ABC-TV-funded researchers at Boston University estimated the crowd size to be about 837,000 members, with a 20% margin of error.^[3]

Two years after the march, the Million Woman March was held in response to concerns that the Million Man March had focused on Black men to the exclusion of Black women.^[4]