I Have a Dream

Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. stood before 250,000 people and held them in the palm of his hand. Speaking at the March on Washington, the Baptist minister gave what has come to be known as his “I have a dream” speech. King began by saying America had failed to deliver on its promise of equality for African Americans. Then, 11 minutes in, he set aside his prepared remarks, never to return to them. “I still have a dream. . . ” he began, and the crowd was carried aloft by words of hope that have resonated through the years. In her penetrating eBook I Have a Dream: Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.’s Speech 50 Years Later, Peggy Mackenzie delves into his mesmerizing call for racial equality to reveal not only a master class in oratory but a sweeping history of civil rights and insights into King’s own life.

Star Dispatches is a weekly series of quality journalism in ebook form from the newsroom of the Toronto Star, Canada's largest newspaper.