Million Man March

The march took place in the context of a larger [[grassroots]] movement that set out to win politicians' attention for urban and minority issues through widespread [[voter registration]] campaigns.<ref name="Nelson1998">{{cite book |last=Nelson Jr. | first= William E. |editor-first=Felton O. | editor-last=Best |title=Black Religious Leadership from the Slave Community to the Million Man March; flames of fire |publisher=The Edwin Mellen Press |location= Lewiston, New York |year= 1998 |chapter= Black Church Politics and The Million Man March}}</ref>{{rp|245}} On the same day, there was a parallel event called the ''Day of Absence'', organized by women in conjunction with the March leadership, which was intended to engage the large population of Black Americans who would not be able to attend the demonstration in Washington. On this date, all Blacks were encouraged to stay home from their usual school, work, and social engagements, in favor of attending [[teach-in]]s, and [[Church service|worship service]]s, focusing on the struggle for a healthy and self-sufficient [[Black community]]. Further, organizers of the Day of Absence hoped to use the occasion to make great headway on their voter registration drive.<ref name="Madhubuti1996" />{{rp|147}}

The march took place in the context of a larger [[grassroots]] movement that set out to win politicians' attention for urban and minority issues through widespread [[voter registration]] campaigns.<ref name="Nelson1998">{{cite book |last=Nelson Jr. | first= William E. |editor-first=Felton O. | editor-last=Best |title=Black Religious Leadership from the Slave Community to the Million Man March; flames of fire |publisher=The Edwin Mellen Press |location= Lewiston, New York |year= 1998 |chapter= Black Church Politics and The Million Man March}}</ref>{{rp|245}} On the same day, there was a parallel event called the ''Day of Absence'', organized by women in conjunction with the March leadership, which was intended to engage the large population of Black Americans who would not be able to attend the demonstration in Washington. On this date, all Blacks were encouraged to stay home from their usual school, work, and social engagements, in favor of attending [[teach-in]]s, and [[Church service|worship service]]s, focusing on the struggle for a healthy and self-sufficient [[Black community]]. Further, organizers of the Day of Absence hoped to use the occasion to make great headway on their voter registration drive.<ref name="Madhubuti1996" />{{rp|147}}

A conflict arose about [[crowd size estimation|crowd size estimates]] between March organizers and National Park Service officials. The [[National Park Service]] issued an estimate of about 400,000 attendees,<ref name="bu">{{Cite web |url=http://www.bu.edu/remotesensing/research/completed/million-man-march/ |title=BU Remote Sensing Million Man March page |access-date=2010-09-19 |archive-date=2017-10-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012211519/http://www.bu.edu/remotesensing/research/completed/million-man-march/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> a number significantly lower than march organizers had hoped for.<ref name="Nelson1998" />{{rp|243}} After a heated exchange between leaders of the march and the NPS, [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC-TV]]-funded researchers at [[Boston University]] estimated the crowd size to be about 837,000 members, with a 16.3% margin of error.<ref name="bu"/>

A conflict arose about [[crowd size estimation|crowd size estimates]] between March organizers and National Park Service officials. The [[National Park Service]] issued an estimate of about 400,000 attendees,<ref name="bu">{{Cite web |url=http://www.bu.edu/remotesensing/research/completed/million-man-march/ |title=BU Remote Sensing Million Man March page |access-date=2010-09-19 |archive-date=2017-10-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012211519/http://www.bu.edu/remotesensing/research/completed/million-man-march/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> a number significantly lower than march organizers had hoped for.<ref name="Nelson1998" />{{rp|243}} After a heated exchange between leaders of the march and the NPS, [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC-TV]]-funded researchers at [[Boston University]] estimated the crowd size to be about 837,000 members, with a 20% margin of error.<ref name="bu"/>

Two years after the march, the [[Million Woman March]] was held in response to concerns that the Million Man March had focused on Black men to the exclusion of Black women.<ref>{{cite news | first=Norma | last=Quarles| title=Behind Million Men, black women | url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9510/megamarch/10-16/women/index.html | publisher=Cable News Network, Inc. | date=16 October 1995 | access-date=17 April 2009}}</ref>

Two years after the march, the [[Million Woman March]] was held in response to concerns that the Million Man March had focused on Black men to the exclusion of Black women.<ref>{{cite news | first=Norma | last=Quarles| title=Behind Million Men, black women | url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9510/megamarch/10-16/women/index.html | publisher=Cable News Network, Inc. | date=16 October 1995 | access-date=17 April 2009}}</ref>