Which pair of individuals are the co-organizers of the March on Washington along with Martin Luther King Jr.?

• A. Rosa Parks and Thurgood Marshall
• B. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin
• C. John Lewis and James Meredith
• D. Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad

Answer: (B)

The question tests your understanding of who organized the famous 1963 march and how civil rights protests were built through broad coalitions. The best answer names Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin as the co-organizers alongside Martin Luther King Jr.

Philip Randolph had long pushed for a large, peaceful public demonstration to pressure the federal government to enact civil and economic rights protections. Bayard Rustin was the skilled organizer who shaped the logistics, strategy, and coalition-building—bringing together labor unions, religious groups, and civil rights organizations to plan the event. Martin Luther King Jr. provided the leadership and served as the public face and main speaker, but the planning and mobilization came from Randolph and Rustin working with him.

Rosa Parks and Thurgood Marshall, while pivotal figures in the broader civil rights movement, were not the organizing duo for this march. John Lewis and James Meredith were important activists in the era, but they did not co-organize the March on Washington. Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad led different strands of the movement and were not organizers of this event.