It’s hard to believe that we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s famous I Have a Dream speech. Or are we?
Contrary to popular belief, variations of King’s I Have a Dream speech were delivered many times before and after the “official” date of of August 28, 1963. In fact, King had been using the dream concept in speeches since 1960.
Like many great speeches, the “official” version was an amalgamation of what worked best up until then, combined with the massive media coverage of what was called “The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.”
As I always say, “the best kind of writing is rewriting.”