10 Facts About "I Have a Dream" Speech

By berario20

  • It also wasn’t the first threatened March on Washington by civil rights leaders.

    In 1941, organizers were planning a march to demand desegregation in the U.S. military as World War II approached. But President Franklin Roosevelt averted the march by signing Executive Order 8802 in June, 1941, banning discrimination in the federal government and defense industries.

  • The official event was called the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

    On June 11, 1963, President John F. Kennedy made a nationally televised address calling for a drive for more civil rights. That same night, NAACP leader Medgar Evers was murdered in Mississippi.

  • Marches had been proposed before the Kennedy speech and Evers’ killing, but the events forced the issue.

    Kennedy met with civil rights leaders such as Dr. King, Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young and student leader John Lewis about a proposed march. Kennedy signaled his approval publicly in July when he was assured it would be a peaceful event.

  • The March was not universally supported by activists.

    Prominent objectors included Malcolm X and Strom Thurmond. The organizers didn’t agree on all the issues, either, but they did agree that blacks and whites should march together at the event.

  • Almost no one could clearly hear Dr. King’s speech.

    An expensive sound system was installed for the event, but it was sabotaged right before it. Attorney General Robert Kennedy enlisted the Army Corps of Engineers to fix the system