I HAVE A DREAM….the making of the famous speech “I Have A Dream” remains the world’s greatest speech in terms of delivery and impact, long after those words were uttered, 50 years ago, this year. But the irony is that the now famous words, “I Have A Dream” and the powerful oration that accompanied it were not even in the prepared speech that Martin Luther King Jnr had with him that very day. That refrain was improvised on the spot. On the spur of the moment. To know what happened, we have to go back to that fateful day, August 28, 1963. Americans had gathered at the biggest, most important civil rights demonstration in American history. At least 250,000 people had jammed the National Mall to hear Martin Luther King deliver a gospel of hope from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington DC. At this time, more than two-thirds of Negroes lacked the right to vote. Or attend same schools or use same public facilities as whites. It was on a Wednesday morning. Washington DC, the Capital, was tense. The crowd gathered slowly and marched to the Lincoln Memorial, where the movement’s leaders would address them. King, not yet 35, went last. As millions watched on all three national TV networks, King began reading from a typed, prepared speech. After 10 minutes, he was more than half-way through a speech that had been well received, but “far from historic.” Then King looked up. He put aside the speech, for he has seen or perhaps, sensed an opportunity. He began skipping whole paragraphs from his prepared text. Some on the platform noticed, including Clarence Jones, his adviser. “He’s off. He’s on his own now. He’s inspired,” Jones would later remark. Completely out of the blue, he thundered: “I say to you today my friends, even though we face difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream rooted in the American dream. It is a dream that one day, this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” He continued to profess his dream, repeating the refrain seven more times, moving from justice and equality to something deeper – a human bond transcending race. “I have a dream that someday on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves, and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” “I have a dream today……” Then he ended suddenly, returning to the speech that had been lying unread on the lectern for the last line: “Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty – we are free at last.” For a moment, the audience was stunned. Silence. Then, a rocking ovation. At the White House, President Kennedy turned to an aide, saying, “He’s damn good.” Till today, it is the spontaneous parts of the speech that continues to reverberate, that people remember. After the March ended peacefully, President Kennedy met the leaders of the march at the White House. When he walked into the Cabinet Room, the President looked at King and grinned. “I have a dream,” he said. The speech was pretty much forgotten and relegated as America grappled with urban riots, the Vietnam War, etc. And then came April 4, 1968, when Martin Luther King was assassinated. And the speech, long forgotten, became his signature tune, endlessly printed and relayed. Till today, 50 years later! The name of King’s most famous speech is on schools and street signs, on posters, pins, and T-Shirts. It is in a hip-pop song. It has been invoked by Nelson Mandela and the demonstrators in Tiananmen Square.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Aug 2013 20:06:23 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015