A march and rally marking the 50th anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington starts at 9 a.m. Wednesday on Capitol Hill, beginning a day of events recalling the historic 1963 civil-rights demonstration.
The march along a 1.6-mile route downtown will pass several buildings with significance for the civil-rights era, including the Justice Department, U.S. Courthouse, Department of Labor and Washington Monument. The procession, to be led by a restored 1960s-era bus like that used by civil-rights activists the Freedom Riders, is expected to draw upward of 100,000 participants. The original march, which demanded jobs and equal rights for blacks, drew about 250,000.
The route ends about midday at the Lincoln Memorial, where President Barack Obama will speak while standing in the same spot on the memorial steps where Rev. King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech, a stirring vision of equality, exactly five decades ago. Mr. Obama will cap two hours of official speeches between 1 and 3 p.m.
Wednesday's speakers include former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, as well as civil-rights protest hero Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, the only surviving speaker from the original 1963 event. D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray also will speak. Other congressional speakers include Reps. Joaquin Castro (D., Texas), Marcia Fudge (D., Ohio), Donna Edwards (D., Md.) and Angus King (I., Maine). At 3 p.m., schools and faith and civic groups in 100 U.S. cities, including Washington, D., C., and 10 foreign cities including London, Tokyo and Buenos Aires, will ring bells to mark the hour of the speech.
District of Columbia traffic authorities are warning commuters to expect long delays Wednesday morning, as thousands pour into downtown Washington for the march. Several historical memorials downtown and more than a dozen main streets and ramps will be closed, beginning at 3 a.m. Wednesday, according to traffic advisories published on the WTOP radio website.
The Wednesday event caps March on Washington tributes that have occupied most of August in the capital. Another march on Aug. 24 drew tens of thousands for a half-mile walk from the Lincoln Memorial to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. That day's speeches were led by the Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. King's son, Martin Luther King III.
The 1963 march is seen as a masterpiece of nonviolent protest, a day of speeches, prayer and song that included gospel singer Mahalia Jackson and folk singers Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. Participants then were advocating for basic freedoms later enshrined in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the most sweeping civil-rights bill since Reconstruction, which outlawed discrimination against racial, ethnic and religious minorities and women, and banned discriminatory voting-registration practices.
The bill was introduced that summer by John F. Kennedy, but wasn't passed until after his death. The act was signed by President Lyndon Johnson two months shy of the first anniversary of the 1963 march. The act had few strong provisions for enforcement, however, and efforts to deliver the freedoms it guaranteed ignited years of struggle.
Civil-rights leader and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition Rev. Jesse Jackson, a participant in the original march, said that Wednesday's march occurs at a time in which minorities have more freedoms but less equality, as unemployment, poor education and crime continue to disproportionately affect African Americans and other minority groups.
Mr. Jackson will march Wednesday and said that while the original march was meant by Mr. King to motivate minorities for the struggle ahead, this march is more about "appropriation and legislation in addition to motivation," he said on D.C. NewsChannel 8 Tuesday.
"We need to revive the war on poverty, we need to engage in student-loan debt, and some plan for urban reconstruction," Mr. Jackson said.
Write to Elizabeth Williamson at elizabeth.williamson@wsj.com
