King’s Dream

To this day, nobody knows what prompted Martin Luther King Jr. to depart from his prepared remarks during the August 28, 1963, March on Washington and deliver what is probably the most famous impromptu speech in American history. Was it the realization that the 40-year-old preacher from Atlanta hadn’t yet connected with his audience? Was it the manifest destiny he felt as a child, that one day he would “have me some big words” like the preacher of his own church? Or was it the provocation of gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, who called to King to “Tell ’em about the dream, Martin!” According to Sundquist (To Wake the Nation ), not even the master orator could put a finger on his extemporization. “I started out reading the speech,” King recalled, then “all of a sudden this thing came out of me.” The author investigates the origin of King’s powerful words and places them in the context of JFK’s political maneuverings, the powerful new medium of television news and the complicated strategy behind the simple march. Exhaustively researched, this book delivers an exegesis of the speech and a captivating account of King’s motivations and turbulent times. (Jan.)