Credit Mahalia Jackson for making King’s ‘I have a dream’ even more powerful | Opinion

This is an updated version of an editorial first published on Jan. 17, 2022, on Martin Luther King Day.

As we honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s searing words on the National Mall in Washington 60 years ago this week, it would be fitting to also honor Mahalia Jackson.

The legendary gospel singer is considered the greatest of her time, but she also proved to be King’s most crucial editor, playing a significant role in the delivery of his most famous speech, “I Have a Dream,” on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 1963.

As someone in his inner circle, Jackson was sitting near King when he began to speak that day to a sea of people on the mall.

Here’s the thing: King did not include “I have a dream,” his most powerful imagery, in the original speech.

In fact, Jackson helped create King’s oft-quoted speech but never got much credit for it — although she was deeply committed to the Civil Rights Movement.

If you watch video clips of the momentous day, 11 minutes into the 16-minute speech, you will hear MLK speaking, and then you hear a female voice nearby, imploring him: “Tell ‘em about the dream, Martin!”

It was Jackson sitting on the podium stage to King’s left, prodding him to the speak emotional passages that had resonated with her and that she thought the entire nation needed to hear.

The story goes that the night before the march, and on other occasions, Jackson had heard MLK talk about his “dream” and loved the passage with the long repetitions of the phrase “I have a dream . . . ”

As MLK spoke that day, playing the role of editor, Jackson must have thought he was burying powerful words.

Although it was among his notes at the podium, Clarence B. Jones, King’s speechwriter, has said that the “dream” section was not necessarily intended to be part of the speech.

But, as visible in video clips, as King hears Jackson call out to him, King glances over at her, pausing, shuffling his notes and abandoning the rest of his prepared speech.

And he begins again:

“And so, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American Dream. … It was a call for a nation to change the way it treated Black Americans.

Jones, the speechwriter, added that, from the moment Jackson implores King to take the speech in a different direction, everything that King says is “extemporaneous and spontaneous.”

Jackson, the gospel singer there to perform, had redirected King’s speech into history. His words and the powerful way he uttered them six decades ago still fill eyes with tears.

Jackson’s impeccable on-the-spot editing helped turn King into a national hero.

Jackson’s contribution should be acknowledged. King respected and trusted her judgment enough to upend his speech at her suggestion.

Today, we give the prescient Mahalia Jackson the recognition she deserves.