'Tell Them About the Dream, Martin'

Clarence B. Jones was interviewed by Tavis Smiley last week. Clarence is an attorney and was an advisor and a speechwriter for Martin Luther King. In this interview Jones talks about the March on Washington and the experience of being there during the famous speech on August 28, 1963. The Dream was not part of King's original speech. Mahalia Jackson, King's favorite gospel singer, called out to Martin that day, "Tell them about the dream, Martin" and he laid out the Dream for that audience of 250,000.  It was not the first time he had spoken about the dream but as Jones says in the Smiley interview, King had the ability adlib and cut and paste pieces of speeches together at the most appropriate time and he did that so well. Kings speeches (printed,  audio and some video) speeches are here.

We all have a dream that lives within us. It is our potential energy waiting to be unleashed into movement, action and kinetic energy.

The interview is 16 minutes. The main section about the dream is 0:45 to 7:00. You can find it on YouTube - search on "TAVIS SMILEY Clarence B. Jones PBS1142"