A BANNER DAY
March on Washington artifact now among historical highlights of ‘American Democracy’ exhibit
Dianne Marshall was only a child when she first saw Martin Luther King Jr.
She and her Mt. Lebanon family were practicing Quakers and passionate about the nonviolent fight for civil rights. Her family took her to the 1958 Friends General Conference in Cape May, N.J., which King attended as guest speaker.
As a high schooler, she and her friends built a community center in Manchester, painted houses and “looked at critical issues of our time,” she said. So when the 17-yearold asked her mother if she could attend the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, it wasn’t a surprise.
Marshall, her older sister, Lisa, and a friend, David Culver, boarded a bus headed for Washington, D.C., on the morning of Aug. 28, 1963. They were the only teenagers and some of the only white people on the bus. The rest of the passengers were members of Black church groups.
“We got off the bus, and there was a throng of people there,” she said. “There was singing [across] the entire mall. Everybody was singing.”
She moved to the front of the crowd and watched the musical group Peter, Paul and Mary perform. And she heard King deliver his “I Have a Dream” speech. She found it sobering.
“He wasn’t talking about things that were to be taken casually,”
Marshall said. “There’s a humbling factor in all of this because of how difficult it has been to make a difference. It was something to be treasured.”
When the march was over, she found a blue-and-yellow banner that read “W. Penna. March on Washington.” She kept it for more than 50 years until donating it to the Senator John Heinz History Center three years ago.
Now the banner, which appears in a photo taken that day in 1963, is a featured part of the Heinz History Center’s new exhibition, “American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith,” in partnership with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The exhibition opened in mid-March and will be on view through Oct. 10.
The Strip District museum provides 7,000 square feet of space to explore democracy’s many facets in U.S. history, resetting the clocks in each section to discuss suffrage and civic engagement, citizenship and immigration, the right to petition and to assemble.
Artifacts on display include a Pennsylvania land grant signed by Benjamin Franklin, materials from the 1840 “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too” campaign of William Henry Harrison, a local Black Construction Coalition flag from the 1970s and materials from the women’s suffrage movement.
Lead curator Melissa E. Marinaro, during a press tour of the exhibit, pointed out a case featuring clothing and other items from Pennsylvania political leaders of diverse backgrounds.
“Here we’re acknowledging that you can be from any economic, racial, ethic background and still become a part of the system of democracy at the level of the government,” she said.
Visitors can also try their hands at the U.S. citizenship exam and play games that encourage exploration of the themes of American democracy.
The history center intended the exhibition to dovetail with its America 101 initiative to help more Americans become familiar with U.S. history and civics by 2026, the country’s 250th birthday. Can the
average American pass the citizenship test?
“We’ve got a powder keg of issues that our country is still grappling with,” history center President Andy Masich said. “We felt that it was time for America to get back to basics to understand the roots of this democracy so we can make better decisions for the present and plans for the future.”
The other goal of the exhibit is to encourage civic action, Marinaro said, noting the history center offers a free app called Citizen You that awards users points for completing challenges such as attending a local council meeting, helping a neighbor
or writing to their Congress member.
She began working with Smithsonian staff on the exhibition in 2018, but the pandemic forced much of “American Democracy” to be done by history center staffers working from home. Marinaro only had one day a week to visit the space.
Adaptations were made to reflect local and national conversations, as well as protests surrounding democratic
institutions, equity and voter disenfranchisementin 2020.
“I got to put a lot of energy into something I think is going to be hopeful and healing to our community,” Marinaro said. “My whole intention of putting this together was for them and making sure that everyone in our community can connect with the content.”
Marshall now lives in Grass Valley, Calif. She remains civically engaged, organizing statewide conferences for the California Association of Collaborative Courts. Reflecting on the 1963 march, she emphasized the conviction of her community at the time.
Her family had friends who were involved in the voter registration efforts in the South during the 1960s. Joseph Louw, who took the famous photographs at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tenn., in the wake of King’s assassination, was a guest in her family home.
“It was a group that took seriously and tried to live what this was about, not just talk about it or be token participants in it,” Marshall said. “It meant a great deal for us to be a part of something good happening in the long term.”
As for the banner’s significance in today’s ongoing civil rights efforts, she said it was not something one person should own.
“To me, in many ways, it’s sad that we are continuing to have to fight the fight, but if we do, let’s have good items to help tell the story,” Marshall said. “It’s real people. It’s real people who were standing up and saying, ‘We’re here. This country is supposed to believe in equality for all.’ That’s what we were participating in at the march. That’s what we’re working on today.
“Keep in mind that history is being made all the time, and be mindful of what we want our roles to be in that history.”