Impromptu Sermon

This speech goes from planned-out to off the top awesome.

Martin Luther King, Jr. and his team of speechwriters went through several drafts of the original text. In fact, it wasn't originally titled "I Have a Dream." One of the working titles of the speech referenced the idea of a "bad check," or broken promise of freedom for African Americans. When he got up to speak, MLK stuck to his notes at first. But by the middle, he started to improvise, throwing out more and more variations on the theme "I have a dream."

It was like jazz, or freestyle, or a guitar solo—take your pick. However, MLK's inspiration wasn't so much from music as religion. In the tradition of Black churches, a preacher or reverend often fires up the crowd with some impromptu programming. The grand and eloquent style of the improvisation here, which draws heavily on metaphors, is also evidence of the speaker's reverend DNA.

How it Breaks Down

The Bad Check

After a reference to the end of slavery after the Civil War, MLK unleashes the speech's original central metaphor: the "check" owed to African Americans by the rest of America. He calls giving freedom to all people a "sacred obligation," (4.5) foreshadowing the combination of religiosity and politics that will make up the rest of the speech. He compares the dream of equality to the overall American dream, setting up the universality of the speech's overall message.

The Urgency of Peace

The middle of the speech focuses on the specifics of the movement MLK led: goals, methods, and motivation. He encourages his fellow protesters to stick with their long-term struggle by embracing redemptive suffering, using non-violent methods, and joining with people of other races. The other main point of the section is to not wait or be satisfied for changes.

Go for the win now.

The Dream

In the last section of the speech, MLK describes his dream. And unlike most dreams, which feature flying pigs, talking mushrooms, and appearances from exes, this dream is all about America.

In particular, it's about a future in which there's "a beautiful sympathy of brotherhood" between people of all races (18.4). The last lines tie together some of the speeches overarching themes: religion, hope, and visions of the future.