Oklahomans, Nation Mark Anniversary Of March On Washington, King's Famous Speech

Participants will gather at the Oklahoma History Center on Wednesday to ring bells to mark a final refrain from Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, on the 50th anniversary of the famous address and March on Washington.

The refrain, "Let freedom ring," will echo across the country as more than 100 churches and groups in nearly every state ring bells to commemorate King's most famous civil rights speech.

Wednesday's event in Oklahoma is set for 2 p.m. at the Oklahoma History Center.

8/27/2013 Related Story: OKC Bell Ringing Ceremony To Recognize Martin Luther King Speech

Quoting from the patriotic song, "My Country `tis of Thee," King implored his audience on August 28, 1963, to "let freedom ring" from the "hilltops" and "mountains" of every state, some of which he mentioned as examples in his speech.

President Barack Obama will deliver an address at the Lincoln Memorial to mark the anniversary of the March on Washington. Obama will be joined at Wednesday's celebrity-studded ceremony by former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, as well as the daughters of Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, who signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Obama says he considers the 1963 march a "seminal event" and the anniversary a good time to reflect on how far the country has come and still has to go.