The Hollywood Stars Who Marched With MLK
Agree or disagree with Streep’s politics, she’s only the latest in a long, fascinating tradition of politically active actors.
At last week’s Golden Globes, Meryl Streep used her Cecil B. DeMille Award acceptance speech as a platform to defend the arts and the press, and to offer a sharp rebuke of Donald Trump—without ever mentioning him by name. In the course of six minutes, Streep remarked how then-candidate Trump’s impression of a disabled reporter “kind of broke my heart,” later adding, “when the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.”
Social media, predictably, blew up.
Many viewers applauded her remarks, while many others objected to her decision to get political. Ellen DeGeneres, Judd Apatow and Shonda Rhimes were among those on the left quick to cheer…
…while quite a few notable conservatives, including Meghan McCain and James Woods, were just as quick to express their disapproval and disappointment.
Of course, the President-elect weighed in the next morning:
Streep’s comments may be the latest high-profile example of a Hollywood star getting political, but it is hardly the first. As we head into Monday’s national holiday in celebration Martin Luther King Jr., we thought it right to look back on another divisive era in America’s history—and at the Hollywood stars who were there alongside Dr. King at one of the signature moments of the Civil Rights era.
More than 250,000 took part in 1963's March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Dr. King gave his immortal “I Have a Dream” speech.
Among the speakers that day were Harry Belafonte (who helped organize the celebrity contingent), Burt Lancaster, Lena Horne, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. Joining the marchers were Sidney Poitier, Charlton Heston, Rita Moreno, Tony Curtis, Diahann Carrol, Sammy Davis Jr., Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward and Marlon Brando. The program featured performances by musicians Mahalia Jackson, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, among many others.
Later that same day, Belafonte, Heston, Poitier and Brando participated in a roundtable conversation about the march, produced by the U.S. Information Agency, along with writer/director Joseph Manckiewicz (All About Eve, Guys and Dolls) and author James Baldwin (whose powerful words and ideas are showcased in the forthcoming documentary, I Am Not Your Negro). As you can see in the video below, their conversation is an incredible historical artifact, if a bit slow and rough by today’s slick TV standards.
In their 50th anniversary coverage of the march, Real Clear Politics assembled a fascinating account, Hollywood Who’s Who Marched With King in ’63. The piece makes special note of Heston’s involvement with the Civil Rights movement long before he became identified with conservative politics and the NRA.
In the roundtable video, when Heston is asked why he marched, he explains, “Two years ago, I picketed some restaurants in Oklahoma, but with that one exception — up until very recently — like most Americans, I expressed my support of civil rights largely by talking about it at cocktail parties. But like many Americans this summer, I could no longer pay only lip service to a cause that was so urgently right, and in a time that is so urgently now.”
Looking back from 2017, it’s safe to say most Americans would cheer the celebrities who took part in such an important moment in our history. But at the time, Dr. King was a divisive figure, under suveilance by the FBI, who had recently been jailed for his actions to fight segregation and inequality. Theirs was a brave stance then, no less than Streep’s is now.
Agree or disagree with Streep’s politics, she’s only the latest in a long, fascinating tradition. You can bet she won’t be the last.
Left, right or center: enjoy Meryl Streep in Sophie’s Choice and Sidney Poitier in In the Heat of the Night on Tribeca Shortlist now.
