(Photo by MPI/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Overhead view of the massive crowd assembled on the Mall in front of the Reflecting Pool and between the Lincoln and Washington monuments during the civil rights March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Washington DC, August 28, 1963. We cannot walk alone.And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. Weaving in references to the country’s Founding Fathers and the Bible, King used universal themes to depict the struggles of African Americans before closing with an improvised riff on his dreams of equality. Although his “I have a dream” segment did not appear in his written text, it had been used to great effect before, most recently during a June 1963 speech to 150,000 supporters in Detroit.Unlike his fellow speakers in Washington, King didn’t have the text ready for advance distribution by August 27. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)Dr Martin Luther King Jr addresses the crowd on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the historic March on Washington. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)Demonstrators sit near the reflecting pool in Washington DC after participating in the March on Washington. "The ideas in the speech reflect King's social experiences of ethnocentric abuse, the mistreatment and exploitation of blacks.King's speech used words and ideas from his own speeches and other texts. (Photo by CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)380887 25: Thousands of Americans march near the U.S. Capitol August 28, 1963 at a civil rights rally.
"And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. Marchers led by Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. walked from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial in support of the Civil Rights Movemen | Location: Reflecting Pool, Washington, D.C., USA.Screen capture from the CBS national broadcast of the 'I Have a Dream' speech of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968), Washington, DC, August 28, 1963. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia …
(Photo by FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images)NBC News -- MARCH ON WASHINGTON FOR JOBS AND FREEDOM 1968 -- Pictured: NBC News' Nancy Dickerson at the National Mall during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom political rally in Washington, DC on August 28, 1963 -- (Photo by: NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)NBC News -- MARCH ON WASHINGTON FOR JOBS AND FREEDOM 1968 -- Pictured: Young paperboy during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom political rally in Washington, DC on August 28, 1963 -- (Photo by: NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)American Civil Rights activists actor Sidney Poitier (left) and singer Harry Belafonte talk together during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Washington DC, August 28, 1963. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrims' pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.