When thousands massed on the Mall Saturday to celebrate the 1963 March on Washington, they weren’t simply marking the rally’s 50th anniversary. They were also helping sustain the significance of the civil rights movement in the public consciousness.
That’s the implication of a new article by researchers Amy Corning and Howard Schuman, who found that the 2011 commemoration of the 10th anniversary of September 11 increased the historical importance Americans ascribed to the terrorist attacks. Their findings also suggest that this weekend’s events may have their biggest effects on the attitudes of white Americans. [cont.]
Danny Hayes (GWU), Washington Post