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The Story Behind the Most Epic Million Man March Photo You’ve Never Seen
So Fresh Prince, Puff Daddy, and BBD walk onto the National Mall…
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There was never a clear consensus on how many men arrived in Washington, D.C. on the morning of October 16, 1995. Was it a million? Twenty-five years later, it doesn’t matter. What history has preserved about the Million Man March is the sheer force of the event — its energy and mission. Black men from all over the country were called to action by a religious leader most didn’t follow. It was bigger than numbers and ideology.
When Nation of Islam firebrand Louis Farrakhan put out the call for Black men to atone and heal their communities, he was such a divisive figure that simply appearing on The Arsenio Hall Show helped bring the highly-rated series to an abrupt end. (Whether the show’s demise was officially tied to Farrakhan’s appearance is unclear. There were definitely other issues. But it didn’t help.)
Looking back, Farrakhan’s charge shouldn’t have worked. Big and Pac were at their height; there was little reason to think the promise of speakers like MC Hammer, Rosa Parks, and Jesse Jackson would compel Black men to show up en masse. But show up they did — with their brothers both biological and Greek, their friends from the barbershop, their co-workers, and their sons.
Some celebrities were in the crowd as well. Archival news photos don’t show many of them, especially the ones who rang bells in hip-hop or young Hollywood, but they were there. Just ask Jeff Dyson. In the above photo, the longtime music and TV insider is flanked by some of the biggest superstars of the moment.
“Throwing up the Black Power fist at an event sponsored by Farrakhan? That wasn’t necessarily on-brand for anyone in this photo. But that was the beauty of the Million Man March.”
How does one get Will Smith (with Jazzy Jeff and Alfonso Ribeiro, no less), in a photo with Diddy and all three members of Bell Biv DeVoe? Below, Dyson brings…
