By Josh Bootsma
On August 28, 1963, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson ended her stirring rendition of the classic “I’ve Been ‘Buked and I’ve Been Scorned,” a song requested by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself.
Dr. King stepped to the podium after Jackson, and began to preach to over 200,000 people present at the March on Washington. As King offered his remarks, it’s long been believed that Jackson, familiar with his many sermons, yelled from behind him, “Tell them about the dream, Martin!”
King strayed from the notes he’d been using and began to improvise the historic section of his speech that starts, “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…”
The full video of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech is below. The famous words mentioned above begin at 12:12—
