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The dream wasn't on the page
Written for Everyone
Before Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at churches around the country and often talked about his dream. Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson often turned up at the same churches, singing while he spoke, so she knew his whole repertoire. The Washington event was built for a huge American audience instead of a church crowd, so someone he worked with wrote the first six paragraphs or so, aimed at everybody, and King wrote the rest.
The Shout From the Crowd
The speech was going over nicely and warmly, but Jackson, who knew what was possible, watched the crowd respond only that much. About three quarters of the way through, King paused for a second, and she shouted for Martin to tell them about the dream. He pushed his speech aside and began I have a dream.
Who Kept the Paper
The paper is in the hands of a man named George Raveling. He was a Villanova basketball player visiting a friend's house when the friend's father suggested they go up to Washington to hear King speak. An organizer noticed how big he was and asked him to come on stage as extra security, and he agreed. Afterward, as people congratulated King, Raveling walked over to shake his hand and asked for the speech, and King handed it to him.
How did Mahalia Jackson shape the speech?
Jackson, a gospel singer from New Orleans who became famous in the 1940s and 1950s, was often called the Queen of Gospel. At the March on Washington she sang I've Been 'Buked and I've Been Scorned shortly before King spoke. She had supported King's work since the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955 and 1956.
Why was the March on Washington held?
Its full name was the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Labor leader A. Philip Randolph and organizer Bayard Rustin planned it, and about 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. Organizers pressed for civil rights legislation, an end to school segregation, and a federal jobs program with a higher minimum wage.
How did Detroit hear the dream first?
In June 1963, King led the Walk to Freedom in Detroit, where an estimated 125,000 people marched. That night he gave a speech at Cobo Hall that included the I have a dream refrain. Motown released a recording of the Detroit speech as an album that year.
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