Almost a year before, Martin Luther King Jr. made is famous ‘I Have A Dream’ speech in front of thousands of people in Washington, DC in 1963, he had already given it once before to a smaller crowd in a high school gymnasium. For decades, it was considered a rumor that he previewed the speech at Rocky Mount High School on Nov. 27, 1962, however a shocking discovery in the library of the school, proved this to be true.
Author and English professor, Jason Miller found the recordings while doing research on Dr. King and his use of Langston Hughes poetry in his speeches. Miller came across the speech in a box labeled ‘Martin Luther King Jr.’. Inside the box was a tape with a note saying “Please do not erase.”
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The taped featured the documented evidence that historians needed to prove that MLK actually did give the ‘I Have A Dream’ speech long before 1963. On Tuesday, it was made official after the never before heard speech, which was electronically restored was unveiled at North Carolina State University’s Centennial Campus.
The speech he gave at Rocky Mount High School and in Washington, DC are only slightly different and carry the same message. MLK still uses his phrases, “I have a dream,” as well as ‘Let Freedom Ring.”
Rev. William Barber of the NAACP said, “It’s not so much the message of a man, it’s the message of a movement, which is why he kept delivering it. It proves once again that the ‘I have a dream’ portion was not a good climax to a speech for mere applause, but an enduring call to hopeful resistance and a nonviolent challenge to injustice.”
Listen to clips of the original speech below.
Source ABCNews
