Heard and Unheard Speeches

It was not the speech Martin Luther King planned to give. He wanted his contribution to the March on Washington to be brief, “sort of a Gettysburg Address.” He would, he knew, be following a long list of speakers. A fiery sermon would not do. Not for this audience. The aim of the march was to pressure Congress into passing President Kennedy’s Civil Rights Bill. Demonstration, not civil disobedience, the march sponsors had agreed, would be the order of the day. It was ...