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Today marks the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, an event usually associated with the fight for civil rights and integration, but one that also put economic opportunity and equality at its forefront. As a historian, I know we enjoy stories of change over time. Some insist we can’t have history without it. Thus, it seems fitting to ask: what has changed in economic inequality for Black America over the last half century?

In the spring of 1968, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, to join sanitation workers seeking better pay, fairer treatment and the right to form a union.

I was with Dr. King as he stood with workers, all African-American, all fighting years of labor repression and wages that relegated them to poverty. Dr. King was assassinated on that trip to Memphis. His death, just as the images of workers carrying signs reading, "I am a man," is forever seared in my memory.

"Not only the absence of oppression but the presence of opportunity"

In his speech at the Lincoln Memorial the President movingly honored the sacrifice and commitment of the people who marched on Washington fifty years ago today. He was emphatic in noting that the progress has been immense, an accomplishment that belongs not only to the leaders of the movement but the ordinary people who “never appeared in the history books.”

If I were a top executive in the retail or restaurant industries, or one of their hired guns in Washington, I'd be very nervous right now. 

Tomorrow will see what may be the first-ever national strike against restaurant and retail chains, with workers expected to walk off the jobs in 35 cities -- including at retail giants like Sears, Macy's, and Walmart.

As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Freedom and Jobs today, it is remarkable to note how the challenges faced by activists 50 years ago are so similar to those we face today. But instead of being deflated by this reality, and progress has been made for sure, this anniversary is an invaluable reminder of how change can be made.

Fifty years after the "dream" of racial equality invoked by Martin Luther King at the March on Washington, the reality is that African-Americans still suffer the most unemployment.

Government statistics show the overall US unemployment rate stood at 7.4 percent in July.

But while whites had a jobless rate of 6.6 percent last month, the rate was nearly double for blacks at 12.6 percent.

By comparison, the Hispanic, or Latino, minority fared better, with 9.1 percent unemployed.

Charles Lane is a smart guy, but his recent column in the Washington Post on higher education makes you wonder how much he has dug into that issue. 

If we comparison shop for clothes and cars, why can't we do the same for something as serious as prices for the most common medical procedures? Until very recently, these prices were a closely guarded secret, secluded in a unwieldy, outdated government database that interested researchers had to pay to access. This secrecy has a variety of consequences for all Americans, but particularly the uninsured.

Right now, eager 18-year-olds from across the country are tweeting with bravado photos of their newly postered dorm rooms and scanning with private fear their freshmen class schedules. They're embarking on a journey to capture their piece of the American Dream.