If you visited any major U.S. city in the early fall of 1995, there’s no doubt you would have heard of

the Million Man March for Black men in Washington, D.C., on October 16, either from flyers posted

around town or through word of mouth.  After all, plans for a massive gathering of African American

men on the National Mall had been in motion for over a year.

The Washington march was called by Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam and organized

by the Million Man March Organizing Committee, which consisted of civil rights activists from many

organizations, including local chapters of the NAACP, the National African American Leadership

Summit, and the Nation of Islam.

The march took place in the context of a larger grassroots movement that set out to win politicians;

attention for urban and minority issues through widespread voter registration campaigns. One of the

primary motivating factors for the march was to place black issues back on the nation's political

agenda and to show “the world a vastly different picture of the Black male.”

At the time of the march, African Americans faced unemployment rates nearly twice that of white

Americans. In addition, African Americans had a poverty rate of more than 40% and a median family

income that was about 58% of the median for their white counterparts. The unemployment rate for

black men was high at over 11% without jobs. This was even more so for black men ages 16 -19

years old with over 50% going unemployed.

Before the gathering was over Minister Farrakhan asked all who attended to go back to their cities

and communities, and form Local Organizing Committees to address their local community needs. Jeffery

Muhammad, Minister at Muhammad Mosque No. 48, came back and appointed Wana Alwalee as

Executive Director of the Dallas Local Organizing Committee. Since then, DLOC has consistently

provided programs and projects with the goal of educating, inspiring and uplifting those in most need,

specifically, at-risk youth and low-income families.