In a departure from events a half-century ago, women played a larger role in commemoration of last months March on Washington."Fifty years ago, women were not up here speaking, but here we are today," Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, told a crowd that contained substantially more women than its predecessor in 1963. Keynote speakers included Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., minority leader of the House of Representatives, and King's daughter, the Rev. Bernice King, who offered a moving final prayer to close the event. Sybrina Fulton, mother of slain black teenager, Trayvon Martin, provided a tribute of her son, and Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of slain civil rights worker Medgar Evers, also addressed the crowd.
During the original event, women such as Rosa Parks and Dorothy Height marched down Independence Avenue, while men walked down Pennsylvania Avenue, where the media congregated. All participants strolled down Independence together Saturday, passing the new Martin Luther King Memorial.