Robert Avery
Robert Avery had to hitchhike to get to the March on Washington.
Robert Avery knew the dark side of the civil rights movement. A month after the student protests in Birmingham, Alabama, turned violent, Avery — 15 years old at the time — joined anti-segregation demonstrations in Gadsden, Alabama. Police responded with force, cracking down with batons and prods, and arresting more than 460.
Avery still lives with burn scars from a cattle prod.
Months later, Avery and two of his friends were determined to get to Washington for the March on Washington. They couldn’t afford to make the trip via traditional means, so they decided to hitchhike the 700 miles between Gadsden and the nation’s capital.
They walked at least a dozen miles up a dark highway before they got their first ride. After three days of hitchhiking, they arrived in Washington a week before the march.
The three youths were put to work making signs for the march at the local headquarters.
That weekend, a civil rights leader walked in and asked for them. He had been in Gadsden the night before, and their parents wanted him to check on them.
King sat down with the three and talked to them for perhaps 20 minutes, asking them about their dreams.
Today, Avery continues to serve as a city councilman in Gadsden, a position he has held since 1986.
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