NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Aug 26, 2013) - In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and the seminal "I Have a Dream" speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., digital marketing agency Organic and the National Park Foundation, the official charity of America's national parks, today released a first-of-its-kind web and mobile destination, WeAreStillMarching.com.
Part of a comprehensive initiative to help people experience one of the largest, most poignant demonstrations ever seen in the U.S., WeAreStillMarching.com harnesses pioneering technology supported in Google Chrome to tell the story of the March on Washington through photographs, original video and audio interviews, and archival footage of the day. WeAreStillMarching.com features HTML5 and JavaScript APIs to deliver a modern web experience across a wide range of devices.
At the centerpiece of the experience is a feature encouraging users to record themselves speaking MLK's pivotal "I Have a Dream," refrain. After recording their own version of the speech, users can then submit it to an audio mosaic of other user-generated recordings, uniting many voices around the same tenants that Americans united around 50 years ago: Freedom for all. Prominent national figures including Hawaii high school teacher and sister of President Obama, Dr. Maya Soetoro-Ng, and influential hip-hop poet and Grammy-winning artist, J Ivy, have recorded and submitted personal recordings of the speech.
"We are honored to team with Organic and Google to engage people in a meaningful way with the historic March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech," said Neil Mulholland, President and CEO of the National Park Foundation. "Through this initiative, people will better understand how America's national parks preserve and protect our shared history."
"Fifty years ago, on August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered arguably the greatest speech in American history, centered around four simple words 'I have a dream,'" said Organic Chief Creative Officer David Bryant. "This experience gives everyone a chance to speak those universal words and celebrates the quarter of a million people who marched on Washington that day."
Other elements of WeAreStillMarching.com include:
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Over 200 images of the March on Washington, some never before published, and a gallery of civil rights milestones, curated by Organic
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NPS conducted contemporary video interviews with Congressman John Lewis, the last surviving formal speaker and Representative Eleanor Norton
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Archival video interview with the late Dorothy Height
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Ten contemporary audio interviews with March attendees including three photographers who covered the event
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Archival footage of many of the major speakers during the formal program as well as newsreel coverage
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Audio excerpts from day-of news radio coverage
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30 march images geo-located on a Google map showing the exact area of the Mall where they were taken
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"Then and Now" composites overlaying select March images on top contemporary photos of the location