Isabel “Scottie” Dalsimer
Alexandria, VA
It was a bright and sunny day in August 1963. I was 25 years old and just back from a two year assignment in West Africa. My household effects were arriving at my Washington apartment that afternoon, but I had time to go to the March on Washington beforehand. I made it downtown into the crowd and ran into an old acquaintance. His name was Bill Pope. Bill was a 6’4” African American man. I am 5’1” white woman. Bill asked me if I wanted to march with him and I said “Sure.”. We marched and it was wonderful. People were friendly and were all singing and happy together as we went along. Then we saw a TV camera suspended in the air just above us in the crowd. Bill looked up at the camera and stopped. He picked me up and said to the camera: “Hi all you folk in Mississippi & Alabama. This is how we all get along in Washington, D.C.!”, and he planted a big kiss on my face. We both looked in the camera and laughed. He put me down and we marched on. I couldn’t stay for the speeches because I had to meet my movers at my apartment. I haven’t seen Bill Pope since, but I heard he later became the Coca-Cola company representative in Nigeria. Washington, DC was so segregated at that time, so everyone getting along together so well and in an unsegregated way made the experience so wonderful – proof of how the races could truly get along. My memories of that time have been floating back in my mind lately and so I’m happy to share my experience at the March on Washington in 1963.
