Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous speech almost didn't have the phrase "I have a dream" (2023)

It's usually best to ignore the best plans, at least that was the case with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.Speech "I have a dream" inmarch on washingtonfrom the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963.

Widely considered one of the most“Transformative and Influential” Speechesnext to Abraham Lincoln1863The Gettysburg Addressmide Winston Churchill1940“Blood, work, tears and sweat”speech, the impact of King's words on that hot summer afternoon in Washington, DC, moved civil rights advocates far and near and became a powerful rallying cry.

King's speech sparked a movement that helped create theCivil Rights Lawof 1964 and theVoting Rights Act1965, ending racial segregation in the United States.

But these four famous words almost did not make it into the speech.

King wanted the speech to be 'like the Gettysburg Address'

Before taking the podium that day, King was already known on the national stage for his civil rights work. He had already been a leader inMontgomery Bus Boycottin 1955 and theGreensboro sit-in movementin 1960 and was known for his 1963Birmingham Prison Letter, where he was taken after a peaceful demonstration.

The Baptist minister, who also headed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, was known as a powerful speaker, but most of his audience came from the African-American community. Fellow civil rights activistA. Felipe Randolphapproached him and other prominent figures in the movement to organize the march followed by three hours of speeches.

All three major television networks at the time, ABC, CBS, and NBC, all promised to cover the event, so King knew the stakes were high. Although it is limited to five minutes,your goalIt was clear: to make a speech with an impact on the nation "like the Gettysburg Address."

Relied on a team of trusted advisors

To carefully craft the right words, King turned to his inner circle. The first draft was written by Stanley Levison and Clarence Jones, two of his advisers.

“When it came to my speech drafts, [King] often acted as an interior designer,” Jones said, according too guardian. “I would hand him four strong walls and he would use his God-given abilities to furnish the place so he would feel at home.”

Even knowing the importance of the speech, with the logistics, they only met as a group at the Willard Hotel the night before the speech. “We met in the lobby rather than in a suite, assuming it would be more difficult to bug the lobby,” Jones wrote in the Washington Post. "It was with this strange beginning, hidden in plain sight, that 12 hours before the start of the march on Washington, Martin met with a small group of advisers to work out the themes of his speech."

While King was happy with the draft, he wanted to get as much information out of it as possible. "So that night he had a cross-section of counselors present to fill any blind spots," Jones wrote. “Cleveland Robinson, Walter Fauntroy, Bernard Lee,ralph abernathy, Lawrence Reddick and I joined him, along with Wyatt Walker andBayard Rustin, who were in and out of our deliberations.”

Of course, everyone had their own opinion, which became a challenge to reconcile. “As we ate sandwiches, our suggestions came up,” Jones recalls. “Cleve, Lawrence and I saw the speech as an opportunity to mark an ideological and political milestone in the debate on civil rights and segregation. Others were more inclined to have Martin deliver a kind of sermon in church, full of parables and quotes from the Bible. Some, however, feared that the biblical language would overshadow the real message: reform of the legal system. And still others wanted Martin to direct his remarks to the students, black and white, who would be marching that day.”

READ MORE: Martin Luther King Jr. and 8 black activists who led the civil rights movement

'I have a dream' was originally cut from the speech.

The "dream" idea was actually one that King talked about for a long time, almost as a topic in his previous speeches. Walker had the strongest opinion: “Don't use the lines about 'I have a dream.' It's banal, it's cliché. You have used this many times.

Respecting his point of view, the mention of the dream was removed from the speech. At 4 a.m., King finally went to bed. "Now I go up to my room to consult with my Lord," he said, according too guardian. "See you tomorrow."

King said 'it would be fatal to the nation to ignore the urgency of the moment'

Although everything has been meticulously planned, the organizers are still concerned that the turnout will not be as high as they had hoped. After all, they set a goal of 100,000 people to attend the March on Washington.

But on August 28, despite the heat in the nation's capital, which reached 87 degrees Fahrenheit with uncomfortably humid conditions, people began arriving in droves. Among them were notable names:josephine baker,marlon brando,harry belafonte,Samy Davis Jr.,james garnerCharlton HestonPaul NewmanmiSidney Poitier.

“It was really impressive. Estimates vary widely, depending on whose agenda is being counted, but those of us who were involved in planning the March put the number at a minimum of 250,000.Jones wrote in his book,Behind the dream: the speech that transformed a nation. “They showed up to connect with The Movement, to draw strength from the speakers and from each other.”

When it was King's turn, some people had already left due to the sweltering heat. But nothing stopped him from his moment on the national scene.

"I am happy to join you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration of freedom in our nation's history," he addressed the crowd.

So, like the Lincoln speech he was inspired by, beginning with "Four twenty-seven years ago," he began with the words "Five twenty years ago" and stressed the importance ofEmancipation Proclamation.

"But a hundred years later, the black is still not free," he continued, before describing the state of life for African-Americans in the United States.

He then moved on to the purpose of the march: “In a sense, we came to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they signed a promissory note to which all Americans would be heirs. This note was a promise that all men, yes, both black and white, would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

“It would be fatal for the nation to ignore the urgency of the moment,” he continued, emphasizing why this was essential to imminent action. “And as we walk, we must make a promise that we will always march forward. We can't go back.

A gospel singer prompted King to say 'I have a dream'

Although his words were shocking, they did not have the tremendous impact he expected. But then gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, who had sung "I've been Buked and I've Scorned" and was standing next to King, instinctively yelled, "Tell them about the dream, Martin."

Throwing the script out the window, he turned back to his dream.

"I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream," he began before launching into his most famous passage. "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live the true meaning of its creed: 'We believe on these self-evident truths: that all men are created equal,'" he said.

He described a world of equality, with various parts of what seemed. “I have a dream that my four young 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,” he said. And between each "dream" scene, he said, "Today I have a dream."

Building a cadence that had the crowd engaged and excited, he concluded: “And when that happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring in every town and every village, in every state and every city, we will be able to Hastens that day when all of God's children, black and white, Jew and Gentile, Protestant and Catholic, will be able to join hands and sing the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last! finally free! Thank God Almighty, we are finally free!'”

King knew that abandoning his manuscript created the strongest impact

Looking back on the day, Jones notices a change when King threw all the prepared comments out the window: “When he was reading his text, he became a lecturer. But from the moment he put that text aside, he assumed the stance of a Baptist preacher."

And that was the kind of message the United States needed to hear.

Even King remembered all the long hours of preparation and realized that nothing resonated more than reading a crowd and trusting your gut.

“I started by reading the speech and I read it up to a point,” he said. he said later. “The response from the audience was wonderful that day… and suddenly something came to my mind that… I had used many times before… 'I have a dream.' And I felt like I wanted to use it here... I used it, and at that point I just walked away from the manuscript completely. I didn't go back to that.