5o years later

[hi_im_god]

how mahalia jackson managed to get mlk off his prepared speech and onto "i have a dream".

an interesting tidbit of history i had no idea about before today.

http://www.npr.org/2013/08/28/216141...am-cannot-wait

King had enormous respect for Jackson, Jones says. And because of that, the reverend listened to her when she offered him unsolicited advice while King stood at the podium on the day of the march.

While he was reading from the prepared text, Jones says, Jackson shouted at King. "This is after she had performed, of course, she's sitting down, and she just shouted at him ... 'Tell 'em about the dream, Martin! Tell 'em about the dream!' "

Jackson knew that King had delivered a rousing speech earlier that summer at Detroit's Cobo Hall, bringing the crowd to a feverish pitch when he preached about his dream for a better America. So despite King's prepared script that August day, Jackson encouraged him to bring that moment from Detroit to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

"Now, most people probably didn't have the slightest idea what Mahalia was yelling to Dr. King," Jones says. "What he did upon hearing that, he took the text of the speech — the written text that he was reading — and he moved it to the left side of the lectern [and] grabbed the lectern with both his hands.

"And I see this and I turn to the person standing next to me ... and I said, 'These people don't know it, but they're about ready to go to church.' "