4 things you may not know about MLK’s ‘I have a dream speech’

All of us would want that ‘I have a dream’ moment. Reagan had it with ‘tear down this wall’ and Lincoln had it with ‘Four score and seven years ago’.

Most of us up to this point are probably most remembered for phrases like:

“Wait, is this on? …OK, cool. So my name’s Jeff and I’m stoked to be Tom’s best man.”

“So as you can see the key performance indicators have us trending nicely into Q3.”

Don’t worry, there’s still time for your ‘dream’ moment. While you’re waiting, here are five things you probably didn’t know about Martin Luther King’s William Wallace moment.

1) The crowd was restless — The temperature on August 28, 1963 was 87 degrees and King was listed as the 16th speaker or performer on the program. Organizers hoped for a crowd of 100,000. Ultimately 250,000 showed up. Some supporters had left to find shade from the heat.

2) The dream had already been stated — King had used the line before at rallies and fundraisers. Some of his advisers liked the message and some advised against it. The night before King’s speech, adviser Wyatt Walker recommended King drop the line as he thought the message was ‘cliché’.

3) King never stopped editing — The papers King took to the podium had words crossed out and notes all over them. Knowing the magnitude of the moment, King was never completely satisfied with any of the drafts. He stayed up to 4 AM the previous night trying to get it down.

4) He went off-script — The ‘I have a dream’ portion was left off the final draft. When King was wrapping up his speech, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson shouted, ‘Tell ’em about the dream, Martin’. The rest is history.

Josh Womack is the head writer of Laugh Staff where he writes hilarious wedding speeches.