What role did women play in the March on Washington? And why have so many of their contributions received less attention in the history of the Civil Rights Movement?

In this conversation, Dr. Marcia Chatelain discusses her book How Bright the Path Grows: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the March on Washington and the Black women who helped organize, shape, and participate in the historic 1963 March on Washington.

We talk about Rosa Parks, Mahalia Jackson, Josephine Baker, Anna Arnold Hedgeman, Eva Jessye, Marian Anderson, Daisy Bates and other women whose stories offer a deeper understanding of the Civil Rights Movement and the March on Washington.

Dr. Chatelain also discusses Rosa Parks after the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Mahalia Jackson's relationship with Martin Luther King Jr., Josephine Baker and Black Americans living abroad, Eva Jessye's role in the March's musical program, the experiences of older women in the Civil Rights Movement, and what it means to write a group biography about women whose contributions have often received less attention.

We also talk about who gets to speak for a movement, what makes movements strong, how history is remembered, and what we can learn from the women who helped shape the struggle for civil rights and freedom.

In This Conversation:

00:00 Writing Books
02:38 The Meaning Behind How Bright the Path Grows
04:01 Marcia Chatelain's Relationship With the March on Washington
06:46 Anna Arnold Hedgeman
09:33 Who Gets Credit for a Successful Movement?
10:33 The Hidden Women of the Civil Rights Movement
12:12 Malcolm X and the "Farce on Washington"
15:21 Rosa Parks and Economics
15:55 Rosa Parks After the Montgomery Bus Boycott
17:50 What Do We Owe Our Trailblazers?
20:43 Josephine Baker
22:10 Black Americans Living Abroad
25:45 Mahalia Jackson
27:20 Mahalia Jackson and Martin Luther King Jr.
30:45 Eva Jessye
34:12 Ageism in the Civil Rights Movement
39:01 Writing the March on Washington
41:55 Writing a Group Biography
44:43 What Makes a Strong Movement?
47:02 What Should Be in a Writer's Toolkit?

About Dr. Marcia Chatelain

Dr. Marcia Chatelain is a historian and author of How Bright the Path Grows and Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America, which won the Pulitzer Prize for History. How Bright the Path Grows examines the lives and contributions of Black women connected to the March on Washington and the broader struggle for civil rights.

Get your copy of How Bright the Path Grows today.

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