WASHINGTON – Bernie Sanders’ 1960s civil rights credentials aren’t earning him extra points with some prominent black leaders as he tries to peel away African American support from Hillary Clinton.

Sanders sat down with Rev. Al Sharpton and other civil rights leaders in DC Thursday, where he stressed a commitment to voting rights and other top agenda items. But leaders who met with Sanders say his actions more than 50 years ago shouldn’t be the main issue for voters today.

Sanders attended the historic 1963 march on Washington and got arrested protesting against segregation of Chicago schools in the 1960s. But civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis has dismissed Sanders’ movement credentials, saying “I never saw him, I never met him.”

Sharpton, asked by The Post about how much those credentials should count, replied: “The issue is not who was where. The issue is who did what.”

“All of us respect Congressman Lewis. But I was 12 years old in ’63. I don’t know who was at the march. But I know who was at the marches since ’88, ’87, with Howard Beach going forward,” Sharpton said.

“The issue now in 2016 is who can lead and who has the credentials, vision, and can build the trust,” he said.

Sharpton said he’s not making a presidential endorsement until he gathers more information.

Urban League president Marc Morial said of the march: “There were 250,000 people at the Washington march. Lots of people marched on Washington. We acknowledge and respect anyone who marched and anyone who was involved.”

But he added: “It’s not only about being in the right place at the right time – it’s about the leadership role that one has played. Voters will ask what positions and what message does a candidate have? We would give respect to anyone who was there in 1963 … People not only want to know where someone was in ’63, but where they were in ’03. Where they were in ’13. Where they were in ’93.”

Janice Mathis, executive director of the National Council of Negro Women, who attended the Sanders meeting, gave the white progressive lawmaker credit for taking tough stands.

“I don’t know where he was in ’63, but in ’88 he was campaigning for Jesse Jackson,” she told The Post.

“John [Lewis] is a genuine American hero, but so is Bernie Sanders,” added Mathis, who was a delegate to the Democratic convention that year, and who like other leaders isn’t making an endorsement.

“In ’88, Jackson won the [caucus] in Vermont. And that was the sort of high point in terms of progressive racial politics in America. There was always some penalty for white folk who get too close to black folk in Vermont and [Sanders] seemed willing to pay the penalty,” she said.

The comments on Sanders’ background come as Clinton is counting on her strong support among black voters to stop his surge in South Carolina.