Sheila Says: It’s Martin Luther King, Jr Day

It’s been nearly 55 years since Dr. Martin Luther King Junior gave the historic “I Have a Dream” speech. Delivered at the base of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28th, 1963 during a March on Washington, the speech is considered one of the defining moments of the Civil Rights movement and one of the most famous speeches in history.

Here are some little-known facts about the speech:

• The speech is known as “I Have a Dream,” but those words were never in the original draft — they were ad-libbed.
• It lasts 17 minutes and is widely considered to have been drafted in New York and then in Washington in the hours before the rally.
• As a result of the speech, Dr. King was named Man of the Year by Timemagazine in 1963, and won the Nobel Peace Prize the following year.
• It was ranked the top speech of the 20th century by a poll of academics.
• It is said to have had several names and drafts, including “The Normalcy Speech” and “A Cancelled Check.”