Benjamin Todd Jealous

President and CEO, NAACP

We gathered half a mile from the White House, where an African-American president and African-American attorney general have held office for five years.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson

Author and political analyst

If Obama had bowed to the initial GOP demands to take military action before getting congressional approval, GOP leaders would have jumped all over him and blamed him for not getting that approval -- and they wouldn't have stopped there.

Peter Dreier

E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics, Occidental College

Du Bois was one of the towering intellectual figures of the 20th century. Fifty years after his death, his ideas -- and his activism for economic and social justice -- remain an important influence on American culture.

Michael Steele

Political analyst; Fmr. Chairman, Republican National Committee; Fmr. Lt. Governor, Maryland

Dr. King's speech challenged the status quo of his time and now so must we. But we must first answer for our generation the question often asked of him: 'When will you be satisfied?'

Rev. Dr. Gerald Durley

Retired Senior Pastor, Providence Missionary Baptist Church

Dr. King's dream is sometimes misunderstood. It is not just about the right to vote or an end to legal discrimination. It is about fulfilling the promise of a land of opportunity and leaving a proud legacy for our children.

Rep. Frederica Wilson

U.S. Congresswoman from Florida's 24th District

In the wake of a Great Recession that hit low-income workers hardest, America is coming around to a simple fact: Raising the minimum wage is not only good ethics but also good economics.

Jim Wallis

Christian leader for social change; Author, 'On God’s Side: What Religion Forgets and Politics Hasn’t Learned About Serving the Common Good'

The dream was more than the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, which both followed in the years after the history-changing 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It finally was about King's vision for "the beloved community."

Richard H. Carmona, M.D.

17th Surgeon General of the United States; President of Canyon Ranch Institute; Distinguished Professor, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona; Distinguished Professor, Ohio State University College of Nursing

Take it from a formerly homeless Hispanic high-school dropout who grew up to become the Surgeon General of the United States: Life is what you make it.

Bob Cesca

Political Writer, Host of The Bob & Chez Show

Dr. King challenged the United States to do better; to make good on the "promissory note" of our founding documents, while warning that we should never revisit the grotesque sins of our collective past. But we still have so much work to do.

Thomas E. Perez

U.S. Secretary of Labor

Let's use Labor Day 2013 as an opportunity to reflect on the men and women whose heads, hearts and hands have made ours the strongest economy the world has ever known.

Jonathan Wolfman

Author, 'Passionate Justice: A Progressive Memoir in Essays'

Initially, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta refused to place Anthony Stokes on the heart transplant list. CHA cited nothing medical. Instead, it keyed on Anthony's low grades and school behavior record.

William H. Lamar IV

Pastor, Turner Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Church, Hyattsville, MD

In its own way, the HBCU made the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom possible. Today's HBCU must make meaning of its legacy for its students, who must work tirelessly to usher in a better society and more just world.

Adam Hanft

Political Columnist, CEO of Hanft Projects

I continued to look for any reference to the semicentennial by major American companies or brands, and didn't find much, other than a comical gaffe from the Golf Channel.

Valerie Jarrett

Senior Advisor and Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls

As we reflect on the tremendous progress made over the past half-century, we honor those brave leaders who paved the way, and upon whose shoulders we all stand, by recognizing our responsibility to undertake the immense job still at hand.

Kortney Ryan Ziegler, Ph.D.

Oakland-based award-winning artist, writer and social entrepreneur

"I believe Black Is Blue will add to the conversation surrounding marginalized bodies and reiterate the call for all of us to remember that all bodies, in all states, through all transformations are phenomenal, multi-dimensional temples."

Carol J. Carter

Author and student success expert

What should our vision be today? What would Martin Luther King, Jr. maintain for all Americans if he were here? I like to believe he would have these priorities, which would improve life for all Americans.

The Center for Public Integrity

Original investigative journalism

African-American youth in Oakland, Calif. are arrested -- but then not charged -- at "vastly disproportionate" rates compared to others, which raises troubling questions about police interactions with some of the city's most vulnerable young people.