: 245 On the same day, there was a parallel event called the Day of Absence, organized by women in conjunction with the March leadership, which was intended to engage the large population of Black Americans who would not be able to attend the demonstration in Washington. The march took place in the context of a larger grassroots movement that set out to win politicians' attention for urban and minority issues through widespread voter registration campaigns. The committee invited many prominent speakers to address the audience, and African American men from across the United States converged in Washington to "convey to the world a vastly different picture of the Black male" : 152 and to unite in self-help and self-defense against economic and social ills plaguing the African American community. The founder of the National African American Leadership Summit, Benjamin Chavis Jr., served as National Director of the Million Man March. The National African American Leadership Summit, a leading group of civil rights activists and the Nation of Islam working with scores of civil rights organizations, including many local chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (but not the national NAACP) formed the Million Man March Organizing Committee. Called by Louis Farrakhan, it was held on and around the National Mall. The Million Man March was a large gathering of African-American men in Washington, D.C., on October 16, 1995.
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