Thousands of people will descend on D.C. streets Saturday to rally for statehood and commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington.
Martin Luther King, III and Rev. Al Sharpton will lead the National Action to Realize the Dream March beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday at the Lincoln Memorial. Marchers will then continue on to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.
At 8:30 a.m. Saturday, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray and other statehood supporters will meet at the D.C. War Memorial on Independence Avenue SW, then later join in the national march led by King and Sharpton. The group will be rallying for statehood and independence for the District , which King advocated, according to the Associated Press.
The marches commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream Speech" delivered at the Lincoln Memorial Aug. 28, 1963 to more than 250,000 civil rights activists.
Next Wednesday, presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter will deliver speeches at the Lincoln Memorial on the anniversary of King's speech.
Before standing before those thousands of people, King made major changes to his speech at The Willard Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue. To commemorate the event, the hotel has loaned a wax statue of King from Madame Tussauds in D.C., greeting King's family members and other VIPs slated to stay at the hotel.
Stay with News4 and NBCWashington.com for more special coverage throughout the weekend and week.