"I remember being overwhelmed by the amount of people and the words," said Schulte. "I couldn't really see King. But I could hear his voice. Maybe it was the sound system or maybe just his voice."
Ann Miller, a Quaker from Baltimore, was also in the minority. There was no racial tension, she said. "To see all those black people together was something new, it was an uplifting experience," said Miller, 92, who lives in Columbia now. "It was the first time I'd been in a group like that. We were accepted like everybody else, and we felt part of the whole group."
But the Rev. Marcus Wood, who attended theological seminary with King, remember it somewhat differently. There was tension but it wasn't between races, said Wood, who is co-pastor of Providence Baptist Church in Baltimore. It was between those who supported King and those who saw him as a young maverick trying to take over the movement.
"The crowd was vocally divided and I could overhear their criticisms," said Wood. "With King being so young and inexperienced, they felt that America was not ready for change."
Wood said he looks forward to watching Obama speak tonight, the image of King lingering in his mind after all these years. "King was the first black man who was able to rally a large number of people together, just like Obama is," he said. "And the message is still the same. Change."
Those involved in the civil rights movement say they believe Obama is cognizant of the fact that it was their work that enables him to be where he is today: the first black presidential nominee.
"Barack Obama is the beneficiary of those who laid the foundation for him to be where he is," said former state Sen. Clarence M. Mitchell III, whose father, Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. was the chief lobbyist for the NAACP for nearly three decades and was nicknamed the 101st senator.
Mitchell, 68, said he was at a rally for Obama in Baltimore in February and when Obama began shaking hands, Mrs.Mitchell asked if he knew who the 101st U.S. senator was. When he correctly answered Clarence Mitchell Jr., she pointed out that her husband, standing next to her, was his son.
"He turned to me, took both my hands and looked me right in the eye and said, " 'Senator Mitchell, I want you to know I stand on your shoulders,' " said Mitchell. "What he was saying to me was that he recognized that there were those that paved the way for him."
