Two days later, he wrote in a memo that the speech solidified King “as the most dangerous Negro of the future in this Nation from the standpoint of communism, the Negro and national security.”ġ4. The head of the FBI’s domestic intelligence division, William Sullivan, was not as enamored. Watching the speech from the White House, President Kennedy remarked either “ He’s damned good ” or “ That guy is really good.”ġ3. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!…”) from a 1952 speech by Rev. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. King borrowed a long passage about freedom ringing from various mountains across the country (“ So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Mahalia Jackson performed two songs prior to King’s speech.ġ1. King put aside his prepared remarks and extemporaneously delved into the “dream” section of the speech after his friend Mahalia Jackson, a gospel singer, shouted out to him : “Tell ‘em about the dream, Martin.” King was the final speaker of the day, and some attendees - hot, tired, and anticipating a long trip home - had already left before he took the podium. Before the speech, King told an aide that he wanted to deliver “ sort of a Gettysburg Address. The original draft was entitled “ Normalcy - Never Again” and didn’t contain any references to King’s dreams.Ĩ. the night before working on the speech.ħ. The day before, King and his advisers met to discuss the speech in the lobby of the Willard Hotel because it would be harder to wiretap than a suite.Ħ. The first draft was written by his advisers Stanley Levison and Clarence Jones, and the final speech included input from many others.ĥ. King didn’t write the speech entirely by himself. The night before the speech, King’s adviser Wyatt Walker suggested he not use any of that “dream” stuff during the March on Washington speech, calling it “trite” and “cliche.”Ĥ. King may have taken the “dream” language from then-22-year-old Prathia Hall, who used it during a speech at the burnt remains of the Mount Olive Baptist Church in 1962.ģ. King had previously used his “dream” rhetoric before - “ many times before,” as he acknowledged - in lesser-known speeches.Ģ.
You’ve seen the clips and heard its most famous lines on countless occasions, but here are some of the things you probably didn’t know about how the speech was written, how it was delivered, and how it was received.ġ. delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and it has since become one of the most famous orations in history. King at the March on Washington, August 28, 1963.įifty years ago today, Dr.
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