Why the date August 28 has special significance in American history

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 28. If you have an “On This Day in History” calendar handy, you might notice that lots happened on this date — especially key events critical to the Civil Rights Movement and U.S. economic history.

To discuss the importance of the 28th day of August, Marketplace special correspondent Lee Hawkins joined “Marketplace Morning Report” host David Brancaccio for a discussion. The day has a personal significance for Hawkins, as well.

Hawkins is the author of the forthcoming book “I Am Nobody’s Slave: How Uncovering My Family’s History Set Me Free” and is host of the APM Studios podcast “What Happened in Alabama?” The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

David Brancaccio: The 28 — I mean, that’s Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech delivered on the Washington Mall [in] 1963. That speech did include economic issues.

Lee Hawkins: Well, yes. Absolutely. And here’s a line that some people have forgotten from the speech.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: 100 years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast portion of material prosperity.

Hawkins: King, as an orator, was contrasting the wealth and the economic growth experienced by the nation with the persistent poverty among Black Americans.

Brancaccio: Same day. Aug. 28, 1833: the Slavery Abolition Act, a landmark in ending slavery within the British Empire. But this of course shaped history in the U.S.

Hawkins: Oh, very much so. I mean, the abolition disrupted economies reliant on enslaved labor, particularly in the Caribbean and the American South. Ad the transition to paid labor really led to labor shortages and financial losses for former slaveholders, but it also emboldened abolitionists on American soil to see what was possible.

Brancaccio: And here it is again: Aug. 28. This time the year is 1955: the murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till. This crime had a profound impact on the Civil Rights Movement.

Hawkins: Yes, I mean, a very painful day for America in general — not just Black America. But it was a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement, because the brutality of his death led to his mother’s decision for an open-casket funeral, and that really hit the news wires and shocked the nation, because people were able to see all over the nation and all over the world how brutal Jim Crow was. Not just that Jim Crow was segregation, but Jim Crow was rooted in racial violence and systemic injustice. And that outrage from Emmett Till’s death really mobilize the efforts to challenge segregation laws and to push for broader civil rights reforms.

Brancaccio: Again, Aug. 28, 2008: Barack Obama accepts the Democratic nomination for president. Aug. 28, 2016: Colin Kaepernick’s protest during the national anthem at an NFL game. But you, Lee, you have a personal connection to the date?

Hawkins: Well, yeah. It’s my birthday, first of all. But also, unfortunately, my great great grandfather was murdered on Aug. 28, 1914, and it was a dispute over livestock and land in Alabama. He was a Black man who was murdered by a white man who was never held to justice for the crime. My family lost its land as a result of that racial violence, and that was something that played a role in separating families from their assets throughout Jim Crow. It just was a terrible day for my family in history, but once again, we’re able to bring this date to light because it’s a very tough day, because we had the Emmett Till situation, but we also had the Dr. King speech and abolition, and there were positive things that happened on that day. So it’s a very powerful day in general for Black Americans and in American history.