Baldwin often considered himself a “witness” to the Civil Rights Movement, but this role did not bar him from actively participating in some of the Movement’s most critical, influential events. Baldwin attended the March on Washington, organized by his friend and ally in the Movement, Bayard Rustin. Like Baldwin, Rustin was an openly gay African American man fighting for Civil Rights during a time of systemic homophobia. As such, both men were relegated to more behind-the-scenes roles at these demonstrations. Baldwin, himself, was not invited to speak.

While at the March on Washington, Baldwin was upset to learn that leaders forced speeches to be watered down for mainstream audiences. Baldwin wrote in the Introduction to Michael Thelwell’s Duties, Pleasures, and Conflicts, he was “terrified” by what he viewed as “the official and semi-official opposition” to the March. However, there was “no way of stopping the people from descending on Washington ... What struck me most horribly was that virtually no one in power (including some blacks or Negroes who were somewhere next door to power) was able, even remotely, to accept the depth, the dimension, of the passion and the faith of the people.”