I Have a Dream - wikipedia I Have a Dream For other uses, see I Have a Dream ( disambiguation ). Martin Luther King Jr. delivering `` I Have a Dream '' at the 1963 Washington D.C. Civil Rights March. External audio I Have a Dream, August 28, 1963, Educational Radio Network `` I Have a Dream '' is a public speech delivered by American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963, in which he calls for an end to racism in the United States and called for civil and economic rights. Delivered to over 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the speech was a defining moment of the Civil Rights Movement. Beginning with a reference to the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed millions of slaves in 1863, King observes that : `` one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free ''. Toward the end of the speech, King departed from his prepared text for a partly improvised peroration on the theme `` I have a dream '', prompted by Mahalia Jackson 's cry : `` Tell them about the dream, Martin ! '' In this part of the speech, which most excited the listeners and has now become its most famous, King described his dreams of freedom and equality arising from a land of slavery and hatred. Jon Meacham writes that, `` With a single phrase, Martin Luther King Jr. joined Jefferson and Lincoln in the ranks of men who 've shaped modern America ''. The speech was ranked the top American speech of the 20th century in a 1999 poll of scholars of public address. Contents 1 Background 1.1 Speech title and the writing process 2 Speech 2.1 Similarities and allusions 3 Rhetoric 4 Responses 5 Legacy 6 Copyright dispute 7 Original copy of the speech 8 References 9 External links Background View from the Lincoln Memorial toward the Washington Monument on August 28, 1963 The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was partly intended to demonstrate mass support for the civil rights legislation proposed by President Kennedy in June. Martin Luther King and other leaders therefore agreed to keep their speeches calm, also, to avoid provoking the civil disobedience which had become the hallmark of the Civil Rights Movement. King originally designed his speech as a homage to Abraham Lincoln 's Gettysburg Address, timed to correspond with the 100 - year centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation. Speech title and the writing process King had been preaching about dreams since 1960, when he gave a speech to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP ) called `` The Negro and the American Dream ''. This speech discusses the gap between the American dream and reality, saying that overt white supremacists have violated the dream, and that `` our federal government has also scarred the dream through its apathy and hypocrisy, its betrayal of the cause of justice ''. King suggests that `` It may well be that the Negro is God 's instrument to save the soul of America. '' In 1961, he spoke of the Civil Rights Movement and student activists ' `` dream '' of equality -- `` the American Dream... a dream as yet unfulfilled '' -- in several national speeches and statements, and took `` the dream '' as the centerpiece for these speeches. On November 27, 1962, King gave a speech at Booker T. Washington High School in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. That speech was longer than the version which he would eventually deliver from the Lincoln Memorial. And while parts of the text had been moved around, large portions were identical, including the `` I have a dream '' refrain. After being rediscovered, the restored and digitized recording of the 1962 speech was presented to the public by the English department of North Carolina State University. Martin Luther King had also delivered a `` dream '' speech in Detroit, in June 1963, when he marched on Woodward Avenue with Walter Reuther and the Reverend C.L. Franklin, and had rehearsed other parts. The March on Washington Speech, known as `` I Have a Dream Speech '', has been shown to have had several versions, written at several different times. It has no single version draft, but is an amalgamation of several drafts, and was originally called `` Normalcy, Never Again ''. Little of this, and another `` Normalcy Speech '', ended up in the final draft. A draft of `` Normalcy, Never Again '' is housed in the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Collection of the Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center and Morehouse College. The focus on `` I have a dream '' comes through the speech 's delivery. Toward the end of its delivery, noted African American gospel singer Mahalia Jackson shouted to King from the crowd, `` Tell them about the dream, Martin. '' King departed from his prepared remarks and started `` preaching '' improvisationally, punctuating his points with `` I have a dream. '' The speech was drafted with the assistance of Stanley Levison and Clarence Benjamin Jones in Riverdale, New York City. Jones has said that `` the logistical preparations for the march were so burdensome that the speech was not a priority for us '' and that, `` on the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 27, ( 12 hours before the march ) Martin still did n't know what he was going to say ''. Leading up to the speech 's rendition at the Great March on Washington, King had delivered its `` I have a dream '' refrains in his speech before 25,000 people in Detroit 's Cobo Hall immediately after the 125,000 - strong Great Walk to Freedom in Detroit, June 23, 1963. After the Washington, D.C. March, a recording of King 's Cobo Hall speech was released by Detroit 's Gordy Records as an LP entitled `` The Great March To Freedom ''. Speech Widely hailed as a masterpiece of rhetoric, King 's speech invokes pivotal documents in American history, including the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the United States Constitution. Early in his speech, King alludes to Abraham Lincoln 's Gettysburg Address by saying `` Five score years ago... '' In reference to the abolition of slavery articulated in the Emancipation Proclamation, King says : `` It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. '' Anaphora ( i.e., the repetition of a phrase at the beginning of sentences ) is employed throughout the speech. Early in his speech, King urges his audience to seize the moment ; `` Now is the time '' is repeated three times in the sixth paragraph. The most widely cited example of anaphora is found in the often quoted phrase `` I have a dream '', which is repeated eight times as King paints a picture of an integrated and unified America for his audience. Other occasions include `` One hundred years later '', `` We can never be satisfied '', `` With this faith '', `` Let freedom ring '', and `` free at last ''. King was the sixteenth out of eighteen people to speak that day, according to the official program. I still have a dream, a dream deeply rooted in the American dream -- one day this nation will rise up and live up to its creed, `` We hold these truths to be self evident : that all men are created equal. '' I have a dream... `` '' Martin Luther King Jr. ( 1963 ) Among the most quoted lines of the speech include `` 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 ! '' According to U.S. Representative John Lewis, who also spoke that day as the president of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, `` Dr. King had the power, the ability, and the capacity to transform those steps on the Lincoln Memorial into a monumental area that will forever be recognized. By speaking the way he did, he educated, he inspired, he informed not just the people there, but people throughout America and unborn generations. '' The ideas in the speech reflect King 's social experiences of ethnocentric abuse, the mistreatment and exploitation of blacks. The speech draws upon appeals to America 's myths as a nation founded to provide freedom and justice to all people, and then reinforces and transcends those secular mythologies by placing them within a spiritual context by arguing that racial justice is also in accord with God 's will. Thus, the rhetoric of the speech provides redemption to America for its racial sins. King describes the promises made by America as a `` promissory note '' on which America has defaulted. He says that `` America has given the Negro people a bad check '', but that `` we 've come to cash this check '' by marching in Washington, D.C. Similarities and allusions Further information : Martin Luther King Jr. authorship issues King 's speech used words and ideas from his own speeches and other texts. For years, he had spoken about dreams, quoted from Samuel Francis Smith 's popular patriotic hymn `` America '' ( `` My Country, ' Tis of Thee '' ), and of course referred extensively to the Bible. The idea of constitutional rights as an `` unfulfilled promise '' was suggested by Clarence Jones. The final passage from King 's speech closely resembles Archibald Carey Jr. 's address to the 1952 Republican National Convention : both speeches end with a recitation of the first verse of `` America '', and the speeches share the name of one of several mountains from which both exhort `` let freedom ring ''. King also is said to have used portions of Prathia Hall 's speech at the site of a burned - down African American church in Terrell County, Georgia, in September 1962, in which she used the repeated phrase `` I have a dream ''. The church burned down after it was used for voter registration meetings. The speech also alludes to Psalm 30 : 5 in the second stanza of the speech. Additionally, King quotes from Isaiah 40 : 4 -- 5 ( `` I have a dream that every valley shall be exalted... '' ) and Amos 5 : 24 ( `` But let justice roll down like water... '' ). He also alludes to the opening lines of Shakespeare 's Richard III ( `` Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer... '' ) when he remarks that `` this sweltering summer of the Negro 's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn... '' Rhetoric King at the Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C The `` I Have a Dream '' speech can be dissected by using three rhetorical lenses : voice merging, prophetic voice, and dynamic spectacle. Voice merging is the combining of one 's own voice with religious predecessors. Prophetic voice is using rhetoric to speak for a population. A dynamic spectacle has origins from the Aristotelian definition as `` a weak hybrid form of drama, a theatrical concoction that relied upon external factors ( shock, sensation, and passionate release ) such as televised rituals of conflict and social control. '' Voice merging is a common technique used amongst African American preachers. It combines the voices of previous preachers and excerpts from scriptures along with their own unique thoughts to create a unique voice. King uses voice merging in his peroration when he references the secular hymn `` America. '' The rhetoric of King 's speech can be compared to the rhetoric of Old Testament prophets. During King 's speech, he speaks with urgency and crisis giving him a prophetic voice. The prophetic voice must `` restore a sense of duty and virtue amidst the decay of venality. '' An evident example is when King declares that, `` now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God 's children. '' Why King 's speech was powerful is debated, but essentially, it came at a point of many factors combining at a key cultural turning point. Executive speechwriter Anthony Trendl writes, `` The right man delivered the right words to the right people in the right place at the right time. '' `` Given the context of drama and tension in which it was situated '', King 's speech can be classified as a dynamic spectacle. A dynamic spectacle is dependent on the situation in which it is used. It can be considered a dynamic spectacle because it happened at the correct time and place : during the Civil Rights Movement and the March on Washington. Responses The speech was lauded in the days after the event, and was widely considered the high point of the March by contemporary observers. James Reston, writing for The New York Times, said that `` Dr. King touched all the themes of the day, only better than anybody else. He was full of the symbolism of Lincoln and Gandhi, and the cadences of the Bible. He was both militant and sad, and he sent the crowd away feeling that the long journey had been worthwhile. '' Reston also noted that the event `` was better covered by television and the press than any event here since President Kennedy 's inauguration '', and opined that `` it will be a long time before ( Washington ) forgets the melodious and melancholy voice of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. crying out his dreams to the multitude. '' An article in The Boston Globe by Mary McGrory reported that King 's speech `` caught the mood '' and `` moved the crowd '' of the day `` as no other '' speaker in the event. Marquis Childs of The Washington Post wrote that King 's speech `` rose above mere oratory ''. An article in the Los Angeles Times commented that the `` matchless eloquence '' displayed by King -- `` a supreme orator '' of `` a type so rare as almost to be forgotten in our age '' -- put to shame the advocates of segregation by inspiring the `` conscience of America '' with the justice of the civil - rights cause. The Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ), which viewed King and his allies for racial justice as subversive, also noticed the speech. This provoked the organization to expand their COINTELPRO operation against the Southern Christian Leadership Conference ( SCLC ), and to target King specifically as a major enemy of the United States. Two days after King delivered `` I Have a Dream '', Agent William C. Sullivan, the head of COINTELPRO, wrote a memo about King 's growing influence : In the light of King 's powerful demagogic speech yesterday he stands head and shoulders above all other Negro leaders put together when it comes to influencing great masses of Negroes. We must mark him now, if we have not done so before, as the most dangerous Negro of the future in this Nation from the standpoint of communism, the Negro and national security. The speech was a success for the Kennedy administration and for the liberal civil rights coalition that had planned it. It was considered a `` triumph of managed protest '', and not one arrest relating to the demonstration occurred. Kennedy had watched King 's speech on television and been very impressed. Afterwards, March leaders accepted an invitation to the White House to meet with President Kennedy. Kennedy felt the March bolstered the chances for his civil rights bill. Meanwhile, some of the more radical Black leaders who were present condemned the speech ( along with the rest of the march ) as too compromising. Malcolm X later wrote in his autobiography : `` Who ever heard of angry revolutionaries swinging their bare feet together with their oppressor in lily pad pools, with gospels and guitars and ' I have a dream ' speeches ? '' Legacy The location on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial from which King delivered the speech is commemorated with this inscription The March on Washington put pressure on the Kennedy administration to advance its civil rights legislation in Congress. The diaries of Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., published posthumously in 2007, suggest that President Kennedy was concerned that if the march failed to attract large numbers of demonstrators, it might undermine his civil rights efforts. In the wake of the speech and march, King was named Man of the Year by TIME magazine for 1963, and in 1964, he was the youngest person ever awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The full speech did not appear in writing until August 1983, some 15 years after King 's death, when a transcript was published in The Washington Post. In 1990, the Australian alternative comedy rock band Doug Anthony All Stars released an album called Icon. One song from Icon, `` Shang - a-lang '', sampled the end of the speech. In 1992, the band Moodswings, incorporated excerpts from Martin Luther King, Jr. 's `` I Have a Dream '' speech in their song `` Spiritual High, Part III. on the album Moodfood ''. In 2002, the Library of Congress honored the speech by adding it to the United States National Recording Registry. In 2003, the National Park Service dedicated an inscribed marble pedestal to commemorate the location of King 's speech at the Lincoln Memorial. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was dedicated in 2011. The centerpiece for the memorial is based on a line from King 's `` I Have A Dream '' speech : `` Out of a mountain of despair, a stone of hope. '' A 30 feet ( 9.1 m ) - high relief of King named the `` Stone of Hope '' stands past two other pieces of granite that symbolize the `` mountain of despair. '' On August 26, 2013, UK 's BBC Radio 4 broadcast `` God 's Trombone '', in which Gary Younge looked behind the scenes of the speech and explored `` what made it both timely and timeless ''. On August 28, 2013, thousands gathered on the mall in Washington D.C. where King made his historic speech to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the occasion. In attendance were former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, and incumbent President Barack Obama, who addressed the crowd and spoke on the significance of the event. Many of King 's family were in attendance. On October 11, 2015, The Atlanta Journal - Constitution published an exclusive report about Stone Mountain officials considering installation of a new `` Freedom Bell '' honoring King and citing the speech 's reference to the mountain `` Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. '' Design details and a timeline for its installation remain to be determined. The article mentioned inspiration for the proposed monument came from a bell - ringing ceremony held in 2013 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of King 's speech. On April 20, 2016, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew announced that the U.S. $5 bill, which has featured the Lincoln Memorial on its back, would undergo a redesign prior to 2020. Lew said that a portrait of Lincoln would remain on the front of the bill, but the back would be redesigned to depict various historical events that have occurred at the memorial, including an image from King 's speech. In October 2016 Science Friday in a segment on its crowd sourced update to the Voyager Golden Record included the speech. Copyright dispute Because King 's speech was broadcast to a large radio and television audience, there was controversy about its copyright status. If the performance of the speech constituted `` general publication '', it would have entered the public domain due to King 's failure to register the speech with the Register of Copyrights. However, if the performance only constituted `` limited publication '', King retained common law copyright. This led to a lawsuit, Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. v. CBS, Inc., which established that the King estate does hold copyright over the speech and had standing to sue ; the parties then settled. Unlicensed use of the speech or a part of it can still be lawful in some circumstances, especially in jurisdictions under doctrines such as fair use or fair dealing. Under the applicable copyright laws, the speech will remain under copyright in the United States until 70 years after King 's death, therefore until 2038. Original copy of the speech As King waved goodbye to the audience, he handed George Raveling the original typewritten `` I Have a Dream '' speech. Raveling, an All - American Villanova Wildcats college basketball player, had volunteered as a security guard for the event and was on the podium with King at that moment. In 2013, Raveling still had custody of the original copy, for which he had been offered $3,000,000, but he has said he does not intend to sell it. References Jump up ^ `` Special Collections, March on Washington, Part 17 ''. Open Vault. at WGBH. August 28, 1963. Retrieved September 15, 2016. Jump up ^ Hansen, D, D. ( 2003 ). The Dream : Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech that Inspired a Nation. New York, NY : Harper Collins. p. 177. Jump up ^ I Have a Dream : Martin Luther King Jr. and the Future of Multicultural America, James Echols -- 2004 ^ Jump up to : Alexandra Alvarez, `` Martin Luther King 's ' I Have a Dream ' : The Speech Event as Metaphor '', Journal of Black Studies 18 ( 3 ) ; doi : 10.1177 / 002193478801800306. Jump up ^ See Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters : America in the King Years 1954 -- 1963. ^ Jump up to : Nicolaus Mills, `` What Really Happened at the March on Washington ? '', Dissent, Summer 1988 ; reprinted in Civil Rights Since 1787 : A Reader on the Black Struggle, ed. Jonathan Birnbaum and Clarence Taylor, New York : New York University Press, 2000. Jump up ^ Meacham, Jon ( August 26, 2013 ). `` One Man ''. Time. p. 26. Jump up ^ Stephen Lucas and Martin Medhurst ( December 15, 1999 ). `` I Have a Dream Speech Leads Top 100 Speeches of the Century ''. University of Wisconsin -- Madison. Retrieved 2006 - 07 - 18. ^ Jump up to : `` I Have a Dream ( 28 August 1963 ) ''. The Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute. Retrieved January 19, 2009. Jump up ^ Martin Luther King Jr., `` The Negro and the American Dream '', speech delivered to the NAACP in Charlotte, NC, 25 September 1960. Jump up ^ Cullen, Jim ( 2003 ). The American Dream : A Short History of an Idea that Shaped a Nation. New York : Oxford University Press. p. 126. ISBN 0195158210. ^ Jump up to : Stringer, Sam ; Brumfield, Ben. `` New recording : King 's first ' I have a dream ' speech found at high school ''. CNN.com. Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. Retrieved 13 August 2015. Jump up ^ Crook, Samantha ; Bryant, Christian. `` How Langston Hughes Led To A ' Dream ' MLK Discovery ''. WKBW.com. The E.W. Scripps Co. Retrieved 13 August 2015. Jump up ^ Waggoner, Martha. `` Recording of MLK 's 1st ' I Have a Dream ' speech found ''. DetroitNews.com. The Associated Press. Retrieved 13 August 2015. Jump up ^ `` Interview With Martin Luther King III ''. CNN. August 22, 2003. Retrieved 2007 - 01 - 15. Jump up ^ Hansen, D, D. ( 2003 ). The original name of the speech was `` Cashing a Cancelled Check '', but the aspired ad lib of the dream from preacher 's anointing brought forth a new entitlement, `` I Have A Dream ''. The Dream : Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech that Inspired a Nation. New York, NY : Harper Collins. p. 70. Jump up ^ Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Collection, 2009 `` Notable Items '' Retrieved December 4, 2013 Jump up ^ Hansen, D, D. ( 2003 ). The Dream : Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech that Inspired a Nation. New York, NY : Harper Collins. p. 58. Jump up ^ `` Jones, Clarence Benjamin ( 1931 -- ) ''. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Global Freedom Struggle ( Stanford University ). Archived from the original on 2008 - 06 - 06. Retrieved 2011 - 02 - 28. Jump up ^ Jones, Clarence B. ( 2011 - 01 - 16 ). `` On Martin Luther King Day, remembering the first draft of ' I Have a Dream ' ''. The Washington Post. Retrieved 2011 - 02 - 28. Jump up ^ Boyle, Kevin ( May 1, 2007 ), Detroit 's Walk To Freedom, Michigan History Magazine Jump up ^ Garrett, Bob, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Detroit Freedom Walk, Michigan Department of Natural Resources -- Michigan Library and Historical -- Center Michigan Historical Center, retrieved February 15, 2012 Jump up ^ Ward, Brian ( 1998 ), Recording the Dream, 48 ( 4 ), History Today Jump up ^ `` Document for August 28th : Official Program for the March on Washington ''. Archives.gov. Jump up ^ Edwards, Willard. ( August 29, 1963 ). 200,000 Roar Plea for Negro Opportunity in Rights March on Washington. Chicago Tribune, p. 5 Jump up ^ Excel HSC Standard English, p. 108, Lloyd Cameron, Barry Spurr -- 2009 Jump up ^ `` A `` Dream '' Remembered ``. NewsHour. August 28, 2003. Retrieved 2006 - 07 - 19. Jump up ^ Exploring Religion and Ethics : Religion and Ethics for Senior Secondary Students, p 192, Trevor Jordan -- 2012 Jump up ^ See David A. Bobbitt, The Rhetoric of Redemption : Kenneth Burke 's Redemption Drama and Martin Luther King Jr. 's `` I Have a Dream '' Speech ( Lanham, MD : Rowman & Littlefield, 2004 ) Jump up ^ John, Derek ( 2013 - 08 - 28 ). `` Long lost civil rights speech helped inspire King 's dream ''. WBEZ. Archived from the original on 2014 - 01 - 01. Retrieved 2017 - 08 - 28. Jump up ^ Holsaert, Faith et al. Hands on the Freedom Plow : Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC. University of Illinois Press, 2010, p. 180. Jump up ^ Civil Rights Digital Library : Film ( 2 : 30 ) Jump up ^ `` Psalm 30 : 5 ''. King James Version of the Bible. Retrieved 2015 - 08 - 13. Jump up ^ `` Isaiah 40 : 4 -- 5 ''. King James Version of the Bible. Retrieved 2010 - 01 - 13. Jump up ^ `` Amos 5 : 24 ''. King James Version of the Bible. Retrieved 2013 - 08 - 29. Jump up ^ Vail, Mark ( 2006 ). `` The `` Integrative '' Rhetoric of Martin Luther King Jr. 's `` I Have A Dream Speech ''. Rhetoric and Public Affairs. 9. Jump up ^ Farrell, Thomas B. ( 1989 ). `` Media Rhetoric as Social Drama : The Winter Olympics of 1984 ''. Critical Studies in Mass Communication. 6 ( 2 ) : 159 -- 160. doi : 10.1080 / 15295038909366742. Jump up ^ Darsey, James ( 1997 ). The Prophetic Tradition and Radical Rhetoric in America. New York : New York University Press. pp. 10, 19, 47. Jump up ^ Trendl, Anthony. `` I Have a Dream Analysis ''. Jump up ^ Vail, Mark ( 2006 ). `` The `` Integrative '' Rhetoric of Martin Luther King Jr. 's `` I Have A Dream '' Speech ``. Rhetoric and Public Affairs. 9 : 55. Jump up ^ `` The News of the Week in Review : March on Washington -- Symbol of intensified drive for Negro rights, '' The New York Times ( September 1, 1963 ). The high point and climax of the day, it was generally agreed, was the eloquent and moving speech late in the afternoon by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., (... ). Jump up ^ James Reston, `` ' I Have a Dream... ' : Peroration by Dr. King sums up a day the capital will remember '', The New York Times ( August 29, 1963 ). Jump up ^ Mary McGrory, `` Polite, Happy, Helpful : The Real Hero Was the Crowd '', The Boston Globe ( August 29, 1963 ). Jump up ^ Marquis Childs, `` Triumphal March Silences Scoffers '', The Washington Post ( August 30, 1963 ). Jump up ^ Max Freedman, `` The Big March in Washington Described as ' Epic of Democracy ' '', Los Angeles Times ( Sep. 9, 1963 ). Jump up ^ Tim Weiner, Enemies : A history of the FBI, New York : Random House, 2012, p. 235 Jump up ^ Memo hosted by American Radio Works ( American Public Media ), `` The FBI 's War on King ''. Jump up ^ Reeves, Richard, President Kennedy : Profile of Power, 1993, pp. 580 -- 584 Jump up ^ Clayborne Carson Archived 2010 - 01 - 02 at the Wayback Machine. `` King, Obama, and the Great American Dialogue '', American Heritage, Spring 2009. Jump up ^ `` Martin Luther King ''. The Nobel Foundation. 1964. Retrieved 2007 - 04 - 20. Jump up ^ `` The National Recording Registry 2002 ''. Library of Congress. Jump up ^ `` We Shall Overcome, Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement : Lincoln Memorial ''. U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved 2007 - 01 - 15. ^ Jump up to : `` Tears Fall At The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial ''. WUSA. June 30, 2011. Retrieved September 10, 2011. Jump up ^ `` God 's Trombone : Remembering King 's Dream ''. bbc.co.uk. 26 August 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2013. Jump up ^ Miller, Zeke J ( 2013 - 08 - 28 ). `` In Commemorative MLK Speech, President Obama Recalls His Own 2008 Dream ''. Swampland.time.com. Retrieved 2013 - 09 - 01. Jump up ^ Galloway, Jim ( October 12, 2015 ). `` A monument to MLK will crown Stone Mountain ''. The Atlanta Journal - Constitution. Retrieved April 23, 2016. Jump up ^ Korte, Gregory ( April 21, 2016 ). `` Anti-slavery activist Harriet Tubman to replace Jackson on $20 bill ''. USA Today. Retrieved April 23, 2016. Jump up ^ `` Your Record ''. Science Friday. 2016 - 10 - 07. Retrieved 2016 - 10 - 07. Jump up ^ Strauss, Valerie. `` ' I Have a Dream ' speech still private property ''. Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2013 - 08 - 28. Jump up ^ Xavier L. Suarez ( 27 October 2011 ). Democracy in America : 2010. AuthorHouse. pp. 10 --. ISBN 978 - 1 - 4567 - 6056 - 4. Retrieved 28 April 2013. Jump up ^ Karen Price Hossell ( 5 December 2005 ). I Have a Dream. Heinemann - Raintree Library. pp. 34 --. ISBN 978 - 1 - 4034 - 6811 - 6. Retrieved 28 April 2013. Jump up ^ Weir, Tom George Raveling owns MLK 's ' I have a dream ' speech. USA Today, February 27, 2009 Jump up ^ Brinkley, Douglas ( 2003 - 08 - 28 ). `` Guardian of The Dream ''. Time.com. Retrieved 2013 - 08 - 28. External links African - Americans portal Discrimination portal 1960s portal Bibliowiki has original media or text related to this article : I Have a Dream ( in the public domain in Canada ) Full text at the BBC Video of `` I Have a Dream '' speech, from LearnOutLoud.com `` I Have a Dream '' Text and Audio from AmericanRhetoric.com Deposition concerning recording of the `` I Have a Dream '' speech Lyrics of the traditional spiritual `` Free At Last '' MLK : Before He Won the Nobel -- slideshow by Life magazine Chiastic outline of Martin Luther King Jr. 's `` I Have a Dream '' speech Martin Luther King Jr. Speeches, movements, and protests Speeches `` Give Us the Ballot '' ( 1957 ) `` I Have a Dream '' ( 1963 ) `` How Long, Not Long '' ( 1965 ) `` Beyond Vietnam : A Time to Break Silence '' ( 1967 ) `` I 've Been to the Mountaintop '' ( 1968 ) Writings Stride Toward Freedom : The Montgomery Story ( 1958 ) The Measure of a Man ( 1959 ) `` What Is Man ? '' `` Second Emancipation Proclamation '' Strength to Love ( 1963 ) Letter from Birmingham Jail ( 1963 ) Why We Ca n't Wait ( 1964 ) Conscience for Change ( 1967 ) Where Do We Go from Here : Chaos or Community ? ( 1967 ) Movements and protests Montgomery bus boycott ( 1955 -- 1956 ) Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom ( 1957 ) Albany Movement ( 1961 -- 1962 ) Birmingham campaign ( 1963 ) March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom ( 1963 ) St. Augustine movement ( 1963 -- 1964 ) Selma to Montgomery marches ( 1965 ) Chicago Freedom Movement ( 1966 ) Mississippi March Against Fear ( 1966 ) Anti-Vietnam War movement ( 1967 ) Memphis Sanitation Strike ( 1968 ) Poor People 's Campaign ( 1968 ) People Family Martin Luther King Sr. ( father ) Alberta Williams King ( mother ) Christine King Farris ( sister ) A.D. King ( brother ) Coretta Scott King ( wife ) Yolanda King ( daughter ) Martin Luther King III ( son ) Dexter Scott King ( son ) Bernice King ( daughter ) Alveda King ( niece ) Other leaders Ralph Abernathy ( colleague ) Ella Baker ( colleague ) James Bevel ( strategist / colleague ) Dorothy Cotton ( colleague ) Jesse Jackson ( protégé ) Bernard Lafayette ( colleague ) James Lawson ( colleague ) John Lewis ( colleague ) Joseph Lowery ( colleague ) Benjamin Mays ( mentor ) Diane Nash ( colleague ) James Orange ( colleague ) Bayard Rustin ( advisor ) Fred Shuttlesworth ( colleague ) C.T. Vivian ( colleague ) Wyatt Walker ( colleague ) Hosea Williams ( colleague ) Andrew Young ( colleague ) Assassination James Earl Ray Lorraine Motel ( now National Civil Rights Museum ) Funeral MLK Records Act Riots Loyd Jowers trial United States House Select Committee on Assassinations Media Film King : A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis ( 1970 documentary ) Our Friend, Martin ( 1999 animated ) Boycott ( 2001 film ) The Witness : From the Balcony of Room 306 ( 2008 documentary ) Alpha Man : The Brotherhood of MLK ( 2011 documentary ) Selma ( 2014 film ) All the Way ( 2016 film ) Television King ( 1978 miniseries ) `` The First Store '' ( The Jeffersons episode, 1980 ) `` Great X-Pectations '' ( A Different World episode, 1993 ) `` The Promised Land '' ( New York Undercover episode, 1997 ) `` Return of the King '' ( The Boondocks episode, 2006 ) Plays The Meeting ( 1987 ) The Mountaintop ( 2009 ) I Dream ( 2010 ) All the Way ( 2012 ) Illustrated Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story ( 1957 comic book ) Music `` Abraham, Martin and John '' ( Dion ) `` March ! For Martin Luther King '' ( John Fahey ) `` Martin Luther King 's Dream '' ( Strawbs ) `` Happy Birthday '' ( Stevie Wonder ) `` Pride ( In the Name of Love ) '' ( U2 ) `` MLK '' ( U2 ) `` King Holiday '' ( King Dream Chorus and Holiday Crew ) `` By The Time I Get To Arizona '' ( Public Enemy ) `` Shed a Little Light '' ( James Taylor ) `` Up to the Mountain '' ( Patti Griffin ) `` Never Alone Martin '' ( Jason Upton ) `` Symphony Of Brotherhood '' ( Miri Ben - Ari ) Joseph Schwantner : New Morning for the World ; Nicolas Flagello : The Passion of Martin Luther King ( 1995 album ) `` A Dream '' ( Common featuring Will.i.am ) `` Glory '' ( Common and John Legend ) Related topics Southern Christian Leadership Conference ( SCLC ) Martin Luther King Jr. Day Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial National Historic Site King Center for Nonviolent Social Change Dexter Avenue Baptist Church National Civil Rights Museum Authorship issues Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity Season for Nonviolence U.S. Capitol Rotunda sculpture Oval Office bust Homage to King sculpture, Atlanta Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, San Francisco Landmark for Peace Memorial, Indianapolis Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. statue, Milwaukee The Dream sculpture, Portland, Oregon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library Memorials to Martin Luther King Jr. Eponymous streets America in the King Years Civil Rights Movement in popular culture Lee -- Jackson -- King Day Martin Luther King High School ( disambiguation ) Lycée Martin Luther King ( disambiguation ) African - American Civil Rights Movement ( 1954 -- 1968 ) Notable events ( timeline ) 1954 -- 1959 Brown v. Board of Education Bolling v. Sharpe Briggs v. Elliott Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County Gebhart v. Belton Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company Emmett Till Montgomery bus boycott Browder v. Gayle Tallahassee bus boycott Mansfield school desegregation 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom `` Give Us the Ballot '' Royal Ice Cream Sit - in Little Rock Nine National Guard blockade Civil Rights Act of 1957 Kissing Case Biloxi Wade - Ins 1960 -- 1963 Greensboro sit - ins Nashville sit - ins Sit - in movement Civil Rights Act of 1960 Gomillion v. Lightfoot Boynton v. Virginia Rock Hill sit - ins Robert F. Kennedy 's Law Day Address Freedom Rides attacks Garner v. Louisiana Albany Movement University of Chicago sit - ins `` Second Emancipation Proclamation '' Meredith enrollment, Ole Miss riot `` Segregation now, segregation forever '' Stand in the Schoolhouse Door 1963 Birmingham campaign Letter from Birmingham Jail Children 's Crusade Birmingham riot 16th Street Baptist Church bombing John F. Kennedy 's Report to the American People on Civil Rights March on Washington `` I Have a Dream '' St. Augustine movement 1964 -- 1968 Twenty - fourth Amendment Bloody Tuesday Freedom Summer workers ' murders Civil Rights Act of 1964 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches `` How Long, Not Long '' Voting Rights Act of 1965 Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections March Against Fear White House Conference on Civil Rights Chicago Freedom Movement / Chicago open housing movement Memphis Sanitation Strike King assassination funeral riots Poor People 's Campaign Civil Rights Act of 1968 Green v. County School Board of New Kent County Activist groups Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights Atlanta Student Movement Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Congress of Racial Equality ( CORE ) Committee on Appeal for Human Rights Council for United Civil Rights Leadership Dallas County Voters League Deacons for Defense and Justice Georgia Council on Human Relations Highlander Folk School Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Montgomery Improvement Association Nashville Student Movement NAACP Youth Council Northern Student Movement National Council of Negro Women National Urban League Operation Breadbasket Regional Council of Negro Leadership Southern Christian Leadership Conference ( SCLC ) Southern Regional Council Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ( SNCC ) The Freedom Singers Wednesdays in Mississippi Women 's Political Council Activists Ralph Abernathy Victoria Gray Adams Zev Aelony Mathew Ahmann William G. Anderson Gwendolyn Armstrong Arnold Aronson Ella Baker Marion Barry Daisy Bates Harry Belafonte James Bevel Claude Black Gloria Blackwell Randolph Blackwell Unita Blackwell Ezell Blair Jr. Joanne Bland Julian Bond Joseph E. Boone William Holmes Borders Amelia Boynton Raylawni Branch Ruby Bridges Aurelia Browder H. Rap Brown Guy Carawan Stokely Carmichael Johnnie Carr James Chaney J.L. Chestnut Colia Lafayette Clark Ramsey Clark Septima Clark Xernona Clayton Eldridge Cleaver Kathleen Neal Cleaver Charles E. Cobb Jr. Annie Lee Cooper Dorothy Cotton Claudette Colvin Vernon Dahmer Jonathan Daniels Joseph DeLaine Dave Dennis Annie Devine Patricia Stephens Due Charles Evers Medgar Evers Myrlie Evers - Williams Chuck Fager James Farmer Walter E. Fauntroy James Forman Marie Foster Golden Frinks Andrew Goodman Fred Gray Jack Greenberg Dick Gregory Lawrence Guyot Prathia Hall Fannie Lou Hamer William E. Harbour Vincent Harding Dorothy Height Lola Hendricks Aaron Henry Oliver Hill Donald L. Hollowell James Hood Myles Horton Zilphia Horton T.R.M. Howard Ruby Hurley Jesse Jackson Jimmie Lee Jackson Richie Jean Jackson T.J. Jemison Esau Jenkins Barbara Rose Johns Vernon Johns Frank Minis Johnson Clarence Jones Matthew Jones Vernon Jordan Tom Kahn Clyde Kennard A.D. King C.B. King Coretta Scott King Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Sr. Bernard Lafayette James Lawson Bernard Lee Sanford R. Leigh Jim Letherer Stanley Levison John Lewis Viola Liuzzo Z. Alexander Looby Joseph Lowery Clara Luper Malcolm X Mae Mallory Vivian Malone Thurgood Marshall Benjamin Mays Franklin McCain Charles McDew Ralph McGill Floyd McKissick Joseph McNeil James Meredith William Ming Jack Minnis Amzie Moore Douglas E. Moore William Lewis Moore Irene Morgan Bob Moses William Moyer Elijah Muhammad Diane Nash Charles Neblett Edgar Nixon Jack O'Dell James Orange Rosa Parks James Peck Charles Person Homer Plessy Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Fay Bellamy Powell Al Raby Lincoln Ragsdale A. Philip Randolph George Raymond Jr. Bernice Johnson Reagon Cordell Reagon James Reeb Frederick D. Reese Gloria Richardson David Richmond Bernice Robinson Jo Ann Robinson Bayard Rustin Bernie Sanders Michael Schwerner Cleveland Sellers Charles Sherrod Alexander D. Shimkin Fred Shuttlesworth Modjeska Monteith Simkins Glenn E. Smiley A. Maceo Smith Kelly Miller Smith Mary Louise Smith Maxine Smith Ruby Doris Smith - Robinson Charles Kenzie Steele Hank Thomas Dorothy Tillman A.P. Tureaud Hartman Turnbow Albert Turner C.T. Vivian Wyatt Tee Walker Hollis Watkins Walter Francis White Roy Wilkins Hosea Williams Kale Williams Robert F. Williams Andrew Young Whitney Young Sammy Younge Jr. James Zwerg Influences Nonviolence Padayatra Sermon on the Mount Mohandas K. Gandhi Ahimsa Satyagraha The Kingdom of God is Within You Frederick Douglass W.E.B. Du Bois Related Jim Crow laws Plessy v. Ferguson Separate but equal Buchanan v. Warley Hocutt v. Wilson Sweatt v. Painter Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States Katzenbach v. McClung Loving v. Virginia Fifth Circuit Four Brown Chapel Holt Street Baptist Church Edmund Pettus Bridge March on Washington Movement African - American churches attacked Journey of Reconciliation Freedom Songs `` Kumbaya '' `` Keep Your Eyes on the Prize '' `` Oh, Freedom '' `` This Little Light of Mine '' `` We Shall Not Be Moved '' `` We Shall Overcome '' Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam `` Beyond Vietnam : A Time to Break Silence '' Watts riots Voter Education Project 1960s counterculture In popular culture King Memorial Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument Freedom Riders National Monument Civil Rights Memorial Noted historians Taylor Branch Clayborne Carson John Dittmer Michael Eric Dyson Chuck Fager Adam Fairclough David Garrow David Halberstam Vincent Harding Steven F. Lawson Doug McAdam Diane McWhorter Charles M. Payne Timothy Tyson Akinyele Umoja Movement photographers Coordinates : 38 ° 53 ′ 21.48 '' N 77 ° 3 ′ 0.40 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 38.8893000 ° N 77.0501111 ° W ﻿ / 38.8893000 ; - 77.0501111 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=I_Have_a_Dream&oldid=809668687 '' Categories : 1963 in the United States American political catchphrases History of African - American civil rights Speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. United States historical documents Speeches United States National Recording Registry recordings 1963 in Washington, D.C. 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Question: where was the i have a dream speech located
Answer: the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.