Reverend Robert (Bob)Van Gorder is an 85-year-old retired Congregational minister living in Connecticut. A man of creativity, he is an-award winning photographer, and as a person of significant integrity, he served as a conscientious objector during World War II. He also happens to be the uncle of my spouse, Bonnie Minkler, and performed our wedding in July 1973.
Bob was one of the participants during the March on
Washington in 1963. During its 50th anniversary weekend in August,
Bonnie emailed Uncle Bob to get his thoughts and recollections of participating
with thousands on that day 50 years ago:
“My memory is a bit hazy about some
things, but I remember that it was a beautiful day when a friend of mine and I
got on a train from Springfield, MA, and headed toward Washington, D.C. I
confess I was a bit unsure about my decision to attend, since I had never
before experienced anything this large or fateful, but such thoughts were
quickly banished in the hours to come.
As soon as we reached Washington, we
were immediately absorbed into a crowd of hundreds and thousands of people as
far as the eye could see, ahead of us and behind us, filling the broad avenue
that finally led to the Lincoln Memorial. And I felt wonderful as I walked
along, sometimes by myself, at other times with a friendly group, interacting
with various people, but never feeling alone, just glad and free, relishing
each moment, almost euphoric in my feelings of connection with those about me. And
what an amazing variety there were: black, white and brown, rich and poor,
young and old, the happy, the hurting, the aimless and homeless, Asian,
Hispanic, Jews and Muslims and Christians, gays, straight, people on crutches
and in wheel chairs; the whole rainbow of humanity. And I felt a tremendous
oneness with them and deep love for them all, and I felt them loving me back!
I have never experienced anything
quite like it, before or since, nothing quite as profound! At one point, a
choir from a black church started singing “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” and I and
people all around me joined in, I taking my usual bass part! Beautiful! And of
course we all sang “We Shall Overcome” and other familiar freedom songs at
various points along the way, not forgetting “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee, Sweet Land
of Liberty”! It was an awesome scene, from the base of the monument looking
down the reflecting pool toward the capitol. Everyone was thrilled to be a real
part of it all! And Dr. King’s speech was great, as expected, simple and profound,
going straight to everyone’s heart: a kind of echo of Lincoln’s Gettysburg
Address, I thought, not just in its brevity but in its profound clarity and
appropriateness for that particular moment in time. It was a great climax to a
truly wonderful day, one I will cherish always.
This Anglo-American pastor took a stand for our nation’s
future that day, risking the condemnation of his congregation for “mixing
politics with religion.” Yet, like so many others, his commitment to civil
rights in “the land of the free and the home of the brave” compelled him to be
a part of history. We thank God he is.
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