WASHINGTON, D.C. — Fifty years after Martin Luther King, Jr. talked about his dream of race equality on the National Mall during the March on Washington, President Barack Obama was among those at the Lincoln Memorial for the anniversary on Wednesday.
West Virginia University Chief Diversity Officer David Fryson was 9 years old when King delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech on Aug. 28, 1963.
“My parents were watching this thing going on and I just remember the awe they had watching it,” said Fryson.
A half-century later, he was a guest on Wednesday’s MetroNews “Talkline”—phoning in from the National Mall in Washington, D.C., prior to the start of the “Let Freedom Ring” ceremony marking the anniversary.
Along with Obama, former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter were scheduled to speak.
Fryson pointed out the prepared text for King’s speech did not have the famous section that started with “I have a dream.”
Two months earlier, King had given a similar “Dream” speech in Detroit and originally wanted to use it for the March on Washington, but his advisers dismissed that idea and instead helped him craft a speech titled “Normalcy Never Again.”
When he paused while giving that speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson called out to King, “Tell ’em about the dream, Martin.” That is when King went off script and largely improvised what many consider one of the greatest speeches of the 20th Century in front of 250,000 people.
“It was not the kind of thing you could pre-plan,” said Fryson. “I really believe that he was flying in the moment which is a great thing for a speaker to be able to do.”
Events to mark the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington were held throughout West Virginia on Wednesday.