Jones saw King “push the text of his prepared remarks to one side of the lectern. In that brief silence, Mahalia Jackson, a gospel singer and good friend of King’s, shouted “tell ‘em about the ‘dream.’” Few people heard her, with the exception of Jones, Ted Kennedy, and, of course, King. In the seventh paragraph, something extraordinary happened. “A pleasant shock came over me as I realized that he seemed to be essentially reciting those suggested opening paragraphs I had scrawled down the night before in my hotel room,” wrote Jones. King looks down because he is reading the text. If you watch the video, you’ll notice that King is looking down a lot in the first part of the speech (watch King read at 2 minutes, 10 seconds into the video clip). Fast forward a few hours later when King was delivering the speech.
The next morning King’s speech was finished and copies were delivered to the press. It was not easy voices from every compass point were ringing in my head,” wrote Jones.
“I tried to summarize the various points made by all of his supporters. Everyone in the room represented a group that had a stake in the speech and who wanted their voices to be heard. King asked Jones to take notes and to turn the notes into cohesive remarks he would deliver on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. A group of seven individuals, including Jones, had gathered with King at the Willard Hotel to add their input to the final speech. The story begins the night before the speech, Tuesday, August 27, 1963.
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