Good Question: What Is The History Behind 'I Have A Dream'?
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today."
It is one of the most famous lines in one of history's most famous speeches – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s August 1963 speech during the March on Washington.
But, it wasn't the first time Dr. King delivered that line. In fact, it wasn't originally supposed to be in that speech. So, what is the story behind "I have a dream"? Good Question.
In front of a television audience and 250,000 people gathered stretching from the Lincoln Memorial all the way down the National Mall, Dr. King used the phrase "I have a dream" eight times. Not once did it appear in the written script.
"This was something that he did all the time as a minister," says Keith Mayes, a professor of African-American history at the University of Minnesota. "He allowed that moment to inspire him to actually just move away from the script."
Dr. King had used the line at two other times in the past. Most recently, he had recited it before tens of thousands at the Detroit Walk to Freedom in June 1963.
At one point in the speech, he says, "I have a dream this afternoon that one day right here in Detroit, Negroes will be able to buy a house or rent a house anywhere that their money will carry them and they will be able to get a job."
The phrase appeared 11 minutes into the 16 minute Washington, D.C. speech. Renowned gospel singer Mahalia Jackson sat just a few people away from Dr. King and cried out, "Tell them about the dream, Martin. Tell them about the dream!"
"He's using it for the second or third time in 1963. Mahalia Jackson knows this as somebody who's friends with Dr. Martin Luther King and she's urging him, she's propelling him," says Mayes.
Mayes says the speech wouldn't have had the same impact without that line.
"The argument is so powerful that he's calling American to action, so from a printed word standpoint, yes," he says. "From a spoken word standpoint, no. This speech is memorable because of the way he delivers that line."