Martin Luther King Jr. 's 's assassination , Kennedy `` The Birds speech marked 1963 . a pivotal year offered an opportunity to revisit those events . It also emboldened civil rights leaders as they brought their message -- along with hundreds of thousands of supporters -- to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial , culminating with King 's iconic `` Other civil rights milestones plus cultural touchstones made it Fifty years later , 2013 .
Martin Luther King Jr. 's 's assassination , Kennedy `` The Birds speech marked 1963 . a pivotal year offered an opportunity to revisit those events . Other civil rights milestones plus cultural touchstones made it Fifty years later , 2013 .