37. Martin Luther King Improvised the ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech
“I have a dream” is Dr. Martin Luther King Junior’s best-known quote, and one of the most famous lines ever delivered in an American speech. The most memorable part of an inspiring speech delivered before the Lincoln Memorial on August 28th, 1963, the phrase resonated and caught on. Indeed, it probably did as much or more than anything else in Dr. King’s remarkable life to cement his place in the popular imagination as an icon in the struggle for civil rights.
What few know is that King had walked up to the podium that day, intending to deliver a written and prepared speech, copies of which had already been distributed to the press, that had no mention of dreaming. While reading the seventh paragraph, however, King took a pause for breath. During that brief break, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, a good friend of King, shouted “Tell ‘em about the dream!“ King responded by pushing the prepared text aside, shifting gears, and giving himself over to the spirit. What followed was one of the greatest examples of rhetorical dexterity, as King abandoned the prepared speech halfway through, and began riffing and improvising the second half, with the “I have a dream” refrain.