US / Martin Luther King Jr. Gospel Singer's Shout From Crowd Inspired MLK's 'Dream' Line We have Mahalia Jackson to thank By Newser Editors, Newser Staff Posted Jan 18, 2016 11:54 AM CST Copied In this Aug. 28, 1963, photo, Martin Luther King Jr. gives his "I Have a Dream" speech. (AP Photo/File) America is marking Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, and there's no shortage of interesting coverage about MLK and his legacy: The key to MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech? A remark shouted by gospel singer and King friend Mahalia Jackson, explains Vox. "Tell them about the dream, Martin!" she called out. And so he did. "One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." Mashable collects eight quotes from King that "don't sanitize his legacy." King encountered unexpectedly intense hatred when he took his campaign to the North for the first time, recalls the Los Angeles Times. Time explains how Ronald Reagan came to sign the bill making King's birthday a national holiday. Did you know King was stabbed years before his assassination? Mashable has a look at that, too. An essayist at Quartz hates how the holiday—and King's story—has been reduced to a "pop version of history," something King would have hated, too. In his own way, King also was a savvy economist, explains a blogger at Fortune. Would "Michael King" have had the same ring to it? That was actually his name at birth, notes AL.com in a list of factoids about the man. Supporters were gathering at the statehouse (newly defrocked of its Confederate flag) in Columbia, SC, to mark the day, reports the AP. (More Martin Luther King Jr. stories.) Report an error