“Tell Them About the Dream, Martin!”

When King arrived at the Willard Hotel in Washington the night before the march, he still didn’t have a complete draft. King called his aides together in the lobby, and they started arguing about what should go in the speech. One wanted King to talk about jobs, another wanted him to talk about housing discrimination. Finally King said: “My brothers, I understand. I appreciate all the suggestions. Now let me go and counsel with the Lord.”

King went up to his room and spent the night writing the speech in longhand. Andrew Young stopped by and saw that King had crossed out words three and four times, trying to find the right rhythm, as if he were writing poetry. King finished at about 4 in the morning and handed the manuscript to his aides so it could be typed up and distributed to the press. The speech did not include the words “I have a dream.”

Drew Hansen’s op-ed in the New York Times today, on the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, walks us through the reverend’s speechwriting process and gospel singer Mahalia Jackson’s role in his famous improvisation. If you watch the speech today, make time for Jackson’s performances from that day in the capital. [NYT]