On Tuesday Michelle Obama honored the memory of Whitney Young, one of the speakers at the historic March on Washington in 1963, the Washington Post reports. It was an especially important moment for the first lady because she is a graduate of Chicago's Whitney M. Young Magnet School.
Obama spoke briefly to a group of mostly African-American middle and high school students from Washington, D.C., and Virginia before a screening of The Powerbroker: Whitney Young's Fight for Civil Rights, a documentary about the National Urban League leader. It is scheduled to air on PBS this week.
Obama honored Young's memory Tuesday at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, showing a documentary about the National Urban League leader to a predominantly African American gathering of middle and high school students from the District and Virginia on the eve of the March 50th anniversary.
In brief remarks before the film at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, she challenged them to continue what their elders began and to remember the men and women involved in the civil rights movement.
"We are here because of that struggle," Obama said. "I'm here here because of that struggle. Even though you may think you have some struggles, your paths are a whole lot easier because of what these men and women did."
Young served as the executive director of the NUL in the 1960s and was one of the few blacks who held sway with Fortune 500 chief executives and leading politicians.
Read more at the Washington Post.