I did some research on Dr.Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream Speech" recently, and learned some interesting facts about it from Wikipedia.
Although it is one of the most memorable and powerful speeches ever made, on the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 27, twelve hours before the March on Washington where it was to be presented, Dr. King still didn't know what he was going to say.
The speech has been shown to have had several versions, written at several different times. It has no single version draft, but is an amalgamation of several drafts, and was originally called "Normalcy, Never Again."
When Dr. King did give his speech, toward the end, noted African American gospel singer Mahalia Jackson shouted to King from the crowd, "Tell them about the dream, Martin." King stopped delivering his prepared speech, and started "preaching," punctuating his points with "I have a dream."
As King waved goodbye to the audience, he handed George Raveling the original typewritten "I Have a Dream" speech. Raveling, an all-American basketball player from Villanova, had volunteered as a security guard for the event and was on the podium with King at that moment. Raveling still has custody of the original copy and has been offered as high as $3,000,000 for it, but claims to have no intention of selling it, with plans on leaving it to his children instead.
Have you ever read Dr. King's "I Have Dream Speech" in its its entirety? If not, check it out here.
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4 comments:
Earlier today I was listening to the speech. What a voice, what an extraordinary human being. We can only wonder what if.
I did not know that about the original typewritten speech. Very good of Mr. Raveling to refuse to sell it, though at some point, it might be best placed into museum care.
Good research.
That's really interesting about all the different versions of the speech! I never knew that. Don't think I've ever heard the whole thing, either. But The Governor's Sons was wonderful!
I heard there's a big legal fight between Dr. King's two sons and his daughter over his traveling Bible and his Nobel Peace Prize. The sons want to sell them.
Shouldn't these items be in the Smithsonian?
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