A coalition of civil rights leaders has announced plans to march on Washington, D.C., on Friday, August 28, 2026, to defend voting rights following a series of federal and Supreme Court decisions that have weakened protections against racial discrimination in U.S. elections.

The event, titled "March on Washington 2026: Defend the Vote," is organized by the Rev Al Sharpton’s National Action Network and will be joined by Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King, and several civil rights groups. The march coincides with the 63rd anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr’s historic "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial.

Martin Luther King III stated in a message to the Associated Press, “Defending the vote means defending the foundation of our democracy. Sixty-three years after my father stood at the Lincoln Memorial, we are called to march again, not only in remembrance, but in action.”

The march is described as a symbolic return to the Lincoln Memorial, where King addressed voters during the peak of the civil rights movement. Organizers said, “We return to the ground where a quarter million Americans once stood for jobs and freedom, and we carry their unfinished work into a new generation.”

This mobilization follows an April 2026 Supreme Court ruling that struck down Louisiana’s congressional map and substantially rewrote Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, dismantling key protections against racial gerrymandering. Campaign organizers told the AP that this decision has intensified a long-running fight over Black political representation.

Several states, including Alabama, have moved to redraw congressional maps after the ruling. In Alabama, judges upheld a redistricting process that will eliminate one of the state’s two majority-Black districts in the upcoming midterm elections, defying previous court orders.

The coalition also includes House Representative Yvette Clarke, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, along with organizations such as the Drum Major Institute, the American Federation of Teachers, the American Federation of Government Employees, the NAACP, the National Council of Negro Women, the National Urban League, the League of United Latin American Citizens, and the Working Families Party.

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