On this day in 1963, a Republican, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in front of 250,000 people.

This speech, given in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., is one of the most memorable moments from the civil rights movement. During this time, the Civil Rights Act was being considered in Congress, which would eventually be passed a year later.

Early in his prepared speech, King referenced Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address with “Five score years ago….” He then spoke about the Emancipation Proclamation, which “end[ed] the long night of their [slaves’] captivity.” However, he continued by noting that African Americans were still “not free” and that they were “crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.”

As King neared the end, the address was failing to achieve the resonance of his more noteworthy speeches. As activist John Lewis noted, King himself could “sense that he was falling short.” Perhaps that compelled singer Mahalia Jackson to call out, imploring him to tell the crowd about “the dream.”

It was a theme he had used at earlier events but had been advised not to use in Washington, with one aide calling it “trite.” At Jackson’s urging, however, King abandoned his prepared text and launched into a discussion of his dreams, adopting “the stance of a Baptist preacher.”

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.…I have a dream that my four little 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. I have a dream that…one day right there in Alabama, little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

King’s improvisations seemed to strike a chord with the crowd, many of whom called out words of encouragement. The speech built to its emotional conclusion, which was borrowed from a Black spiritual: “Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.” Largely based on King’s extemporizations, the speech’s impact continues to be felt today and is considered one of the greatest speeches from the 20th century

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IN GOD WE TRUST

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