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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3 comments:
The world needs him, more than ever.
I'd never heard that story before.
And I agree with William.
@William: He is missed.
@Lydia: It was new to me too.
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