What You Didn’t Know About MLK’s Famous 'I Have a Dream' Speech | #K12TeachingMoment
Every January, we honor the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. He’s one of many to champion the civil rights movement, participating in and leading peaceful protests for the right to vote, desegregation, and labor rights. He passionately recited his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, but did you know the original version of his speech didn’t include this iconic phrase?
Vicki Crawford, who oversees the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Collection, says there is only one of the speech’s drafts in his handwritten notes. It was originally titled “Normalcy, Never Again.” He worked on the speech until 3 AM, but not once did it include the word “dream.”
When he read the speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 23, 1963, it was word-for-word. That was until gospel singer Mahalia Jackson prompted him to tell them about the dream. He went off script and continued improvising the speech we know today.
