Another hitchhiked all the way from Alabama only to have MLK check in on him

Robert Avery and two of his friends hitchhiked nearly 700 miles from Gadsden, Alabama, to Washington to participate in the march.

Avery, who was 15 years old at the time, was no stranger to the dark side of the civil rights movement. A few months earlier, he was struck by a cattle prod wielded by Alabama police during anti-segregation demonstrations in Gadsden.

The three youths arrived in the nation’s capital a week before the march after three days of hitchhiking, and they were put to work making signs for the event.

At one point, King walked in and asked for them. He had been in Gadsden the night before, and their parents had asked the civil rights leader to check on them.

King sat down with the three and talked to them for about 20 minutes, asking them about their dreams, Avery later recalled.