1. The speech is known as “I Have a Dream” but those words were never in the
original draft, they were ad libbed on the day.
2. As a result of the speech, Dr King was named Man of the Year by Time Magazine in
1963, and won the Nobel Peace Prize the following year.
3. Dr King drew his references from a wide variety of sources, including the Bible,
the US Declaration of Independence and Shakespeare.
4. The speech was watched by more than 200,000 people assembled for the March on
Washington, the largest march of the civil rights movement, as well as millions
on television.
5. According to his co-authors, Dr King was so busy with the march that, 12 hours
before the speech, he still did not have a firm idea about what he was going to
say.
6. It was ranked the top speech of the 20th Century by a poll of academics.
7. King put aside his prepared remarks and extemporaneously delved into the "dream" section of the speech after his friend Mahalia Jackson, a gospel singer, shouted out to him: "Tell 'em about the dream, Martin."
8. Numerous celebrities were there, including Bob Dylan, Jackie Robinson, Josephine Baker, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Marian Anderson and Joan Baez.
9. "Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt."
10. “I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.”
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