Jim Keighton discussed his firsthand account of the April 1963 March
on Washington during a special Martin Luther King celebration at the
Alleghany Public Library on Jan. 15.
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Keighton offers his account of MLK's March on Washington
By LAURA THORNBURG
Staff
On a hot August day in 1963, current Alleghany resident Jim Keighton
joined his then-Philadelphia neighbors as they took a bus to the
Capitol to join thousands of people gathered to hear the words of
Martin Luther King Jr.
His "I Have a Dream" speech made an impact on the hundreds of
thousands that attended, and is still being felt today. So much so,
Keighton sees the late King as one of his mentors, others being Jesus
and Mahatma Gandhi.
"All of these people stood for a non-violent solution to any of our
problems or conflicts or social ills," explained Keighton. "If we
had to make a demonstration, we did it without trying to affront
anybody but just stand for the principles that were important to all
of us and try to connect with that good in everyone else..."
Interestingly enough, Keighton said his father's cousin, theology
professor Robert Keighton, actually taught King when he was taking
classes at Crozer Theological School in Chester, Pa.
It is at Crozer, Keighton said, that King learned about Gandhi.
"There were people who came to Crozer who knew Gandhi and who spoke
about him and Martin Luther King was very much taken with that. Later
on, Martin Luther King and his wife went to India, to study Gandhi."
In the early 1960s, Jim and Alice Keighton were a young married
couple, residing in Concord Park, an integrated community just north
of Philadelphia, Pa.. Keighton remembers they met King in 1961 or
1962 after he delivered a sermon at a Unitarian church in Germantown.
The Day
When asked to recall what happened on Aug. 28, 1963, with a big
smile, Keighton said, "It's our wedding anniversary." Although
both wanted to attend the March on Washington, Keighton said the two
decided it was best that Alice—who was pregnant with the couple's
first child—stay behind.
"It was a fearful situation," Keighton remembers. "We didn't
know whether this violence that had gone throughout the south would
also be affecting the March on Washington. We didn't know if there
would be a big eruption there as well.
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