19 years old in 1963, white, a rising sophomore at Stanford University, now lives in Cockeysville.
I was very involved in the anti-war movement and increasingly aware of the civil rights movement. Looking for a way to become involved beyond the context of a college campus, I learned that the American Friends Service Committee, the social action arm of the Society of Friends, was sponsoring a voter-registration project in Greensboro, NC - the home of the lunch-counter sit-ins - in August, 1963. I signed up and worked alongside about 20 other college students.
At some point someone mentioned that there was going to be a march on Washington, and for a few dollars - for the bus - we could participate. We all went. We drove all night from Greensboro to DC. At every gas station we would "integrate" the restrooms, since North Carolina and Virginia, through which we passed, were still segregated. Simply, we all piled into the "whites only" men's or women's rooms, with no repercussions.
The day of the march was hot, there were more than 100,000 marchers (which the press failed to acknowledge), and the feeling was great. Our group was near the reflecting pool, well down on the left, as one looks away from the steps. The crowd was high-spirited and unified. I remember the diversity of groups - labor unions, churches, and more - all with lots of signs and placards.
These were the days of hope and optimism, among youth in particular. Martin Luther King Jr.'s message was integration (not separation), peaceful means, and an inevitability of the cause. We fully accepted that message then, and I haven't discovered a better one since.