Sixty years after the 1963 March on Washington, actress and activist Rita Moreno nonetheless will get goosebumps interested by that historic afternoon.
“I got here house a very totally different individual,” Moreno instructed CBS Information’ John Dickerson. “And I’ve not modified since then.”
Moreno was recent off her groundbreaking finest supporting actress win for her function as Anita in “West Aspect Story” on the 1962 Academy Awards, changing into the primary Latina to win an Oscar.
Singer and activist Harry Belafonte invited Moreno to take part within the march together with different celebrities, together with musician Sammy Davis Jr., who’s pictured standing subsequent to Moreno about “10 or 12” toes away from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Morena recalled.
“I used to be so thrilled to have been invited to be part of this, and I’ve Harry Belafonte to thank,” she stated. “He determined that he needed a Hollywood contingent to be current there as a result of he needed Dr. King to know that there have been folks in Hollywood of nice conscience.”
Ed Widdis / AP
The occasion, the place King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, sparked a second of profound change inside Moreno, she stated. “I do not assume that I understood till I stood there, on [the Lincoln Memorial], simply how necessary this was. How necessary it was to make your self heard. That is precisely what I needed to do.”
Though she was “terrified” of repercussions from attending the march — similar to getting blacklisted from Hollywood or dealing with bodily assaults — Moreno remained steadfast in her conviction. “Sooner or later in life, one has to take duty,” she stated. “One must be liable for what’s.”
Reflecting on the progress the U.S. has made in civil rights and race relations over the previous 60 years, Moreno acknowledged there may be nonetheless work to be accomplished.
“So much has modified, and nothing has modified,” Moreno stated. “It simply completely sears my soul, the thought that there’s a lot hatred on this nation. What the hell occurred?”
Nonetheless, Moreno finds hope in seeing youthful generations choose up the place she left off.
“I am 91 now, and I am so sorry that I can not do demonstrations the way in which I used to then,” Moreno stated. “I want I might be round for an additional 20 years, as a result of man, I might get on my excessive horse and do some speaking.”