The demonstration, called by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, promised to be the largest gathering of black Americans in the national capital since the historic 1963 March on Washington, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of his dream of black equality in America.
A prayer in Arabic opened the formal program, and the chant was reminiscent of the calls to prayer from minarets in the Muslim world.
African drums beat, pop music blared, and stranger embraced stranger in brotherhood.
Farrakhan's Nation of Islam espouses a mixture of traditional Islamic theology, economic independence, self-help and black separatism. Farrakhan's remarks have infuriated Jews, Catholics, gays, feminists and others. He has called Judaism a "gutter religion" and recently defended his use of the term "bloodsuckers" to describe Jews, Koreans or others who open businesses in minority communities and take the profits elsewhere.
The purpose of the rally -- billed as "a day of atonement and reconciliation" -- was to rally black men to take responsibility for their lives and families and to make a commitment to fight the scourges of drugs, violence and unemployment.
Before the crowd, Marion Barry, the mayor of Washington, D.C., who was once jailed for using drugs, thanked God for his recovery.
"The vision for the Million Man March came directly from God himself," Barry told the rally. "It was God-inspired. ... Whether we call god Jesus Christ, Yahweh, Jehovah, Allah or just God, he's God. I know first hand God's power, God's grace and God's redemptive love."
Yet an undertone of anger was evident.
"The powers here have not wished us well," the Rev. Robert Smith called out in a morning sermon. "They took our wives, took our children, enslaved us to the point we adopted a slave mentality. In spite of what they've done to us over the years, we are here today."
"Chicago Police," read one banner, "Natural Born Killers."
In a speech to a university audience in Austin, Texas, President Bill Clinton praised the march's message, but spoke out against the messenger, namely Farrakhan and the movement he heads.
"One million men are right to be standing up for personal responsibility, but one million men do not make right one man's message of malice and division," Clinton said.
"No good house was ever built on a bad foundation. Nothing good ever came of hate."
In numbers, it seemed unlikely the march would live up to the name Farrakhan gave it -- the "Million Man March."
The crowd was large and grew as the morning wore on. By mid-morning, co-organizer Ben Chavis put the figure at over 1 million. However the National Park Service said it would provide an estimate only in late afternoon after pictures taken from helicopters were analyzed.
For a million to take part would require the presence of more than one out of every 10 of America's black adult men. No Washington demonstration has ever drawn that many people.
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