{"id":3919,"date":"2014-06-21T09:59:02","date_gmt":"2014-06-21T13:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.archives.nd.edu\/about\/news\/?p=3919"},"modified":"2014-06-21T09:59:02","modified_gmt":"2014-06-21T13:59:02","slug":"illinois-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/illinois-rally\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois Rally for Civil Rights 1964"},"content":{"rendered":" <\/a>
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On June 21, 1964, Soldier Field in Chicago played host to the Illinois Rally for Civil Rights. The principle speakers were Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., President and Founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, President of the University\u00a0of Notre Dame.<\/p>\n

The rally, whose operating costs reached $25,000, opened with\u00a0two hours of\u00a0jazz and gospel music and\u00a0entertainment, including a 5000-voice choir led by gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. \u00a0General admission was free, but priority seating was available for $2-5. \u00a0Nearly 150 various organizations promoted the event, distributing 1.5\u00a0million flyers in Chicago, and brought their members to the rally by the bus-full. \u00a0A crowd estimated of between\u00a057,000-75,000 people of diverse walks of life, races, and faiths\u00a0endured early rain and later sweltering heat\u00a0in\u00a0Soldier Field, standing in solidarity of racial equality.<\/p>\n

\"Rev.
Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh speaking at the Illinois Rally for Civil Rights in Chicago’s Soldier Field, 1964\/0621<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Illinois Rally was somewhat anti-climatic as the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Bill was imminent – President Lyndon Johnson would sign the bill into law on July 2, 1964. \u00a0Some were disappointed with the turnout, thinking that it was not as large as it could have or should have been (days before the event, the leaders had estimated the crowd could tip 100,000. \u00a0The morning rain\u00a0was blamed for the lower attendance). \u00a0However, King said to the crowd, “We have come a long, long way in the civil rights struggle, but let me remind you that we have a long, long way to go. \u00a0Passage of the civil rights bill does not mean that we have reached the promised land in civil rights.” \u00a0He stressed that the bill alone was not enough – “vigorous enforcement” was essential to success.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh with Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Edgar Chandler (far left), and Msgr. Robert J. Hagarty of Chicago (far right) at the Illinois Rally for Civil Rights in Chicago’s Soldier Field, 1964\/0621.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh’s involvement in the national Civil Rights Movement dates back to November 7, 1957, when President Dwight Eisenhower named him to the newly formed Civil Rights Commission. \u00a0Hesburgh, then 40, was the youngest of the six member-commission. \u00a0Hesburgh would remain on the Civil Rights Commission until 1972.<\/p>\n

At the Illinois Rally, Hesburgh echoed King’s sentiments that there was still work to do: \u00a0“A long road and a hot summer are ahead of us. \u00a0Every Negro American who does not use\u00a0his opportunity now is a traitor to his race. \u00a0Be proud to be a Negro. \u00a0Demand respect by being worthy\u00a0of respect. \u00a0We want to strive for human dignity with you.”<\/p>\n

At the time, the Illinois Rally was the second largest Civil Rights demonstration, after the 1963 March on Washington. \u00a0While there was a small group of protesters outside of Soldier Field, the Illinois Rally was overall a peaceful and successful event.<\/p>\n

For more information about the Illinois Rally, please see the following:<\/p>\n

Chicago History Museum –\u00a0Blog post and video about the Illinois Rally<\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0 The Chicago History Museum also has WGN newsreel of the Illinois Rally, but it is not available online at this time.<\/p>\n

University of Illinois at Chicago Special Collections <\/a><\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/a> has more photos of the event online<\/p>\n

The National Archives<\/a> and the UCLA Film & Television Archive<\/a> have a Hearst Metrotone “News of the Day” newsreel of the Illinois Rally, which is not currently available online.<\/p>\n

The Chicago Tribune archives<\/a> are now available online.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/em>
\nPNDP 1964<\/a>
\nGPHS 3\/<\/a>
\n“1964 Civil Rights Act Fast Facts<\/a>” by CNN<\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" <\/a>

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On June 21, 1964, Soldier Field in Chicago played host to the Illinois Rally for Civil Rights. The principle speakers were Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., President and Founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, President of the University\u00a0of Notre Dame. The rally, whose operating costs reached $25,000, opened with\u00a0two … Continue reading “Illinois Rally for Civil Rights 1964”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n ","protected":false},"author":4370,"featured_media":3923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[23,32,39],"class_list":["post-3919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nd-history","tag-civil-rights","tag-events","tag-hesburgh"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 06:50:42","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4370"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}