{"id":29,"date":"2012-06-08T04:13:35","date_gmt":"2012-06-08T04:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/youthinkwhat.com\/now\/?p=29"},"modified":"2012-06-08T20:04:06","modified_gmt":"2012-06-08T20:04:06","slug":"martin-luther-king-jr-march-on-washington-view-from-the-control-room-tv-news-director-max-a-schindler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/youthinkwhat.com\/now\/martin-luther-king-jr-march-on-washington-view-from-the-control-room-tv-news-director-max-a-schindler\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin Luther King, Jr., March On Washington: View From The Control Room | TV News Director Max A. Schindler"},"content":{"rendered":"

You Think What proudly presents a series of remembrances of a television news director\u2019s career. Max A. Schindler worked for the NBC News Bureau in Washington, D.C. for many years. In this second article he describes directing news coverage of a gathering of mostly black civil rights activists in the nation’s capital. This time Max tells the reader what it was like to be present while capturing the televised images of a truly American historic event. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

View From The Control Room Segment#2<\/strong>
\n by Max A. Schindler<\/strong>
\n The March on Washington<\/strong><\/p>\n

August 28, 1963<\/strong><\/p>\n

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom<\/a> was a large rally in support of equal rights for African Americans.\u00a0 There were somewhere between 200,000 to 300,000 people who participated.\u00a0 Approximately 75 to 80 percent were African Americans\u2026the rest were white and other minorities.\u00a0 It was estimated over 500 cameramen, technicians and correspondents were there to cover this event for the networks and news media.\u00a0 I was there with my crew to cover the major speeches at the Lincoln Memorial.\u00a0 Other crews were in various locations all over the grounds at the Washington Monument, where the march was to begin, and along the mall in between the two memorials.<\/p>\n

The leaders of the march were A. Philip Randolph, James Farmer, John Lewis, Martin Luther King, Jr.<\/a>, Roy Wilkins and Whitney Young.\u00a0 The event included musical performances by Marion Anderson, Joan Baez, Mahalia Jackson; Peter, Paul and Mary and Josh White.\u00a0 Charlton Heston representing many artists\u2026Harry Belafonte, Marlon Brando, Ossie Davis, Sammy Davis, Jr., Diahann Carroll, Lena Horne, Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier\u2026gave a speech on behalf of all of them.<\/p>\n

The speech that will be long remembered, though, is the famous \u201cI Have A Dream<\/a>\u201d speech by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.\u00a0 Normally, when I am\u00a0 covering an event, as a director, I am listening to the words, and always thinking about what shots go best with the spoken words.\u00a0 However, this speech was different. While I was directing my portion of this event I found myself listening more intently to the moving words spoken by Rev. King.\u00a0 I know black Americans heard those words, however I also think he penetrated deep into the psyche of white America.<\/p>\n

\u201cFive score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut one hundred years later, the Negro is still not free.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica has given the Negro a bad check, a check which has come back marked \u2018insufficient funds\u2019.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we refuse to believe the bank of justice is bankrupt<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sweltering summer of the Negro\u2019s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people\u2026We cannot walk alone.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI still have a dream.\u00a0 It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.<\/em>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Martin Luther King then used the famous words \u201cI Have A Dream\u201d six times to describe the various dreams and hopes he had for all Americans \u2026black and white.<\/p>\n

He ended with the lyrics from a spiritual \u201cFree at last, free at last.\u00a0 Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is one of the most moving speeches I have ever heard\u2026 I must tell you about something that happened that moved me as much\u2026maybe more.<\/p>\n

There was an African American man standing near our mobile unit as this sea of people came down the mall toward the Lincoln Memorial.\u00a0 He was about 40 years old.\u00a0 He had a 5 or 6-year-old boy with him.\u00a0 I spoke to him.\u00a0 He said he had brought his son, on the bus from Richmond, to see this march, and to hear Rev. King.\u00a0 As this huge crowd came toward us, he picked up his son and placed him on his shoulders\u2026then, as they all arrived at the Lincoln Memorial, over the noise of the crowd he said (and I have tried to remember it as best as I can)\u2026
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

“My son\u2026I want you to see and remember this for all of your life\u2026I want you to see and remember what we did for you and for your generation\u2026it\u2019s too late for me\u2026but it\u2019s not too late for you\u2026look at this and don\u2019t ever forget it.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As he was saying this there were tears streaming down his face.<\/p>\n

I was moved by his love, moved by his hope for his son\u2019s future.\u00a0 I wish I could see that child\u2026now a man in his fifties\u2026I would like to know how he turned out\u2026doctor, lawyer, school teacher\u2026My hope is he never forgot that day and remembers those words\u2026I trust he fulfilled his father’s hopes and dreams for him\u2026and he remembers all of those people who marched for equal rights in the summer of 1963.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You Think What proudly presents a series of remembrances of a television news director\u2019s career. Max A. Schindler worked for the NBC News Bureau in Washington, D.C. for many years. In this second article he describes directing news coverage of a gathering of mostly black civil rights activists in the nation’s capital. This time Max […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[11,10,8,12],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-view-from-the-control-room-max-a-schindler","category-you-think-so","tag-charlton-heston","tag-john-lewis","tag-march-on-washington","tag-rev-dr-martin-luther-king"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/youthinkwhat.com\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/youthinkwhat.com\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/youthinkwhat.com\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youthinkwhat.com\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youthinkwhat.com\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/youthinkwhat.com\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58,"href":"https:\/\/youthinkwhat.com\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions\/58"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/youthinkwhat.com\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youthinkwhat.com\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youthinkwhat.com\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}