Political marches in Washington are now commonplace, but in 1963 attempting to stage a march of this size in that place was unprecedented. The “I have a dream” section was not in it.Ī few hours after King went to sleep, the march’s organiser, Bayard Rustin, wandered on to the Washington Mall, where the demonstration would take place later that day, with some of his assistants, to find security personnel and journalists outnumbering demonstrators. King went to sleep at about 4am, giving the text to his aides to print and distribute. He thought it looked as though King were writing poetry. One of his aides who went to King’s suite that night saw words crossed out three or four times. I would deliver four strong walls and he would use his God-given abilities to furnish the place so it felt like home.” King finished the outline at about midnight and then wrote a draft in longhand. “When it came to my speech drafts,” wrote Clarence Jones, who had already penned the first draft, “ often acted like an interior designer. King would call down and tell him what he wanted to say Walker would write something he hoped worked, then head up the stairs to present it to King.
It’s cliche.’ Photograph: Tom Self/Birmingham News/Polaris/EyevineĪ few floors below King’s suite, Walker made himself available. King with his adviser Wyatt Walker, who urged: ‘Don’t use the lines about “I have a dream”.
