PHOTO ESSAY: Taking the Dream Home to Greensboro rally

Hundreds of people gathered at the corner of Elm and Lee streets in Greensboro on Wednesday to commemorate the 1963 March on Washington and to decry new, restrictive voting laws in North Carolina and other initiatives by Gov. Pat McCrory and the Republican-controlled legislature in Raleigh.

The "Taking the Dream Home" rally was one of 13 organized across the state in each of the congressional districts by the NC NAACP. Other events took place in Winston-Salem, Raleigh, Charlotte, Elizabeth City, Boone, Greenville, Wilmington, Chapel Hill, Concord, Lincolnton, Sylva, Dunn and Wilmington.

Greensboro police spokeswoman Susan Danielsen said the lieutenant assigned to the event estimated the crowd size at 400 to 500 people, while a captain on the scene said there were 600 to 700 people. A YES! Weekly reader points out that the News & Record reported that 1,800 people attended.

An unidentified man showed up at the protest with a handgun. Danielsen said the man agreed to put the weapon in his vehicle, adding that he was prohibited from carrying it during the protest because the event was held on city property.

Photos by Quentin L. Richardson