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
Gospel Singer's Shout From Crowd Inspired MLK's 'Dream' Line
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.)

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