January 16 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: The speech that changed the world

This year, 2023, will mark the 60th anniversary of one of the most famous speeches in American history and perhaps the history of the world, too.

Just 17 minutes long, Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech was a turning point in the civil rights movement. In it, King departed from his prepared text, possibly because gospel singer Mahalia Jackson urged him, “Tell them about the dream!”

Standing before the Lincoln Memorial on Aug. 28, 1963, King improvised the most iconic passage. His famous words:

“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 one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’
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 today.