Aug. 27, 2013
Fifty years later, Bob Duckworth reflects on the 1963 March on Washington and says it is still one of the highlights from the time he spent at Catholic University. Being involved in the fight for civil rights "still makes me proud," Duckworth adds.
Duckworth, who has been Clerk of the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County for nearly 20 years, earned a bachelor's degree in politics from CUA in 1965 and a Master of City and Regional Planning in 1967.
His political education expanded outside of the classroom when he joined faculty and fellow CUA students - including Rev. Theodore McCarrick who would become Archbishop of Washington -at the historic March on Washington.
"I knew after the march and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech the nation was at the historic beginning of a moral and political revolution to assure social and economic justice for all," Duckworth says. "It was one of the most memorable days of my life, as a CUA student and an American citizen."
Duckworth's name is one of more than 500 that have been engraved on the Civil Rights Foot Soldiers Memorial that is being unveiled in Annapolis on Aug. 28 to mark the 50th anniversary of the march.
Duckworth and alumna Sonya Quitslund were interviewed for the PBS Documentary "Meet Me at Equality: The People's March on Washington." The hour long program includes interviews with 28 participants: 23 marchers and five Metropolitan Police Department officers who were on duty that day. It will air in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area on WHUT-TV. Check local listings for times.