MLK "Dream" Speech Memories Burn Brightly

Democratic Delegates Who Heard King Speak 45 Years Ago Look To The Promise of Obama

(CBS/ AP)  Seventy-seven-year-old Josie Johnson vividly remembers being part of the crowd when Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech 45 years ago.

Her group stayed inside a church until it was time to march, and she worried that few people would show.

"We thought, 'Oh, it's going to fail,'" Johnson remembers. "Then, of course, when we came out and started marching, there were all of these people coming from every corner of the country."

Johnson, a Democratic delegate from Minnesota, is among at least a half-dozen witnesses to King's speech who will be on hand Thursday in Denver to see Barack Obama accept his party's nomination for president, a huge milestone in the fulfillment of the dream that King sketched out so long ago.

And while those who attended what was called the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom have seen progress for blacks through the years, Obama's journey from community organizer to U.S. senator to the top of his party's presidential ticket was something they hadn't envisioned - at least not so soon.

It is a coincidence that Obama is accepting his party's nomination on the 45th anniversary King's speech, but one that Democrats have been happy to embrace. Convention officials have made a point of highlighting the anniversary and scheduled a special breakfast Thursday to mark the occasion.

Obama was 2-years-old when doctor king shared his dream. At the 2004 Democratic National Convention, Obama burst onto the national scene with a speech that paid homage to King and those who came before him.

"I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American story, that I owe a debt to all of those who came before me, and that, in no other country on earth, is my story even possible."

The nomination of a black man for president is something "I never thought I would live to see," said Henry L. Marsh III, 74, a state senator from Richmond, Va. He was there in Washington for King's speech, and will be on hand for Obama's nomination acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High stadium.

Marsh remembers being mesmerized by all of the speakers that day in 1963, but he said King's speech was the "icing on the cake." Standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, King spoke of his dream that one day the descendants of former slaves and former slave owners "will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood" and that his children would "live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

The speech "gave me a different perspective of the struggle I was in," said Marsh, who had been working as a lawyer in Virginia to desegregate courtrooms. "It made me realize that I was part of something much bigger than what I thought before."

While Marsh thinks some of the struggles King talked about continue today, he's proud of how far he and other blacks have come. He remembers sitting on the black side of the courtroom in the early '60s; now he's chairman of the legislative committee that selects judges in Virginia.

"The American system makes an Obama possible," Marsh said.

Lucy Buckner-Watson, a delegate from Inver Grove Heights, Minn., and Barbara Lee, a delegate from Staunton, Va., were teenagers when they marched and heard King's "Dream" speech.

Lee, 60, was the youngest member of a group from Staunton who made the trip on an old bus. "There was a hole in the bus floor and there was a piece of cardboard on the floor that kept flapping up as we rode," she said. "It was a long trip."

Lee remembers the crowd becoming quiet just before King spoke. "When he said that someday we'll all be one, it just stuck in my mind," said Lee, a longtime member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

From the first time she saw Obama speak, Lee said, she could tell he carried a similar message.

She has a button that says "A Legacy of Hope" with pictures of both King and Obama, and wouldn't miss Obama's acceptance speech for anything.

"This is the most important thing that I've done in my entire life," said Lee, who, like most delegates, paid her own way to Denver. "I'm on Social Security, but I just thought, 'I'm going, even if it takes me 10 years to pay it back.'"

Buckner-Watson (pictured left, with Johnson), who attended the '63 march with a friend while living in Ohio, said she also felt lucky to be a convention delegate this year. But while handing Obama the nomination is important, there's still a race to be won, she said.

"When we leave there we are going to have to keep that energy going. We've got to," said Buckner-Watson, 63. She hopes her 86-year-old father, who has terminal cancer, will live long enough to see Obama win.

"I want him to be aware and to be here on this side of heaven and realize a black man being president. Because he shared with us that he had seen a black man hung," Buckner-Watson said.

"I am so very, very proud of my people," she said. "Although I know a lot have suffered way more than we have, it's like having some kind of arriving."


For a transcript of Dr. King's 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech click here.

[tbweb]

Posted by tbweb at 06:07 PM : Aug 28, 2008

They weren''t just remarks they were facts.

Posted by tothestars2 at 06:11 PM : Aug 28, 2008,,,

But still irrelevant, life is not about single events but the totality of events and on the scales of life Pres. Johnson did far more good than bad and once again stepped up to the plate and made a difference when it really counted!

[concerns47]

Guess that gives Obama the right:

Obama kisses Biden''''s wife on the lips and not just a peck, poor etiquite. Guess Biden will allow anything to be VP.

No politican kisses women on the lips, the cheek is proper.

[u-r-right]

I agree with what the speech said, but it''''s time for them to stop dreaming and take personal responsability and get a job....

Posted by Demongirl60 at 06:36 PM : Aug 28, 2008

And here, ladies and gents is the best post out of all of these. Neat, tidy and to the point. Bravo!

[mawskrat]

MLK was a Republican

[mawskrat]

parking spots close to the stadium to hear the "great one" speak are going for 80 dollars.lol so much for the working man....oh i forgot it''s Bushes fault

[grammawhamma]

Posted by no2zeebas at 07:11 PM : Aug 28, 2008


Just ignore Rudy. He calls anyone and everyone who doesn''t agree with him a racist...no matter what the topic. Just another little troll.

[no2zeebas]

You and the others are called racists when you deliberately call him monkey, claim he is being too proud (because we know darkies need to know their place), insist that he has to be a Muslim, and more.

Posted by rudy654 at 06:45 PM : Aug 28, 2008


Not once have I called him a monkey or muslim or a darkie...

[beader59]

Obama is not MLK and not even close at that. Blacks were quoted as saying they were voting for him because he was black. MLK would be disgusted. I am not voting for him because I think he is way out of his league and I don''t trust his judgement. It is not because he is black, that doesn''t enter into it. But this comparison to MLK is a joke and is an error.

[rudy654-2009]

...And when the rest of us say we will not vote for him they call us racists...


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Posted by no2zeebas at 06:17 PM

You and the others are called racists when you deliberately call him monkey, claim he is being too proud (because we know darkies need to know their place), insist that he has to be a Muslim, and more.

[rudy654-2009]

It is too bad that the majority of blacks only saw color when they voted for Obama...and ignored the content of his character.


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Posted by GrammaWhamma at 05:43 PM

Yeah. You are just so much better than the rest of them, huh? Too bad they can''t be as good as you are.

[mawskrat]

Demongirl...what a novel idea!

[no2zeebas]

Those are very very wise words. It is too bad that the majority of blacks only saw color when they voted for Obama...and ignored the content of his character.

Posted by GrammaWhamma at 05:43 PM : Aug 28, 2008

Yea...And when the rest of us say we will not vote for him they call us racists...

[tothestars2]

Posted by tbweb at 06:07 PM : Aug 28, 2008


They weren''t just remarks they were facts.

[mawskrat]

what''s gonna happen when Obama loses? I hope folks don''t get stupid

[tbweb]

Posted by tothestars2 at 04:00 PM : Aug 28, 2008,,,

I read all your remarks about President Johnson, many Americans from all different cultures talk in slang, talk using figures of speech and are often misinterpreted because their words are taken literally but were not meant literally. I`m not defending Pres. Johnson`s or anyone elses low points, just pointing out that things are not always as they seem. But one thing is for certain, Pres. Johnson showed leadership and stepped up to the plate when it counted. Not many leaders were pure of purpose!

[u-r-right]

I can''t find proof yet but I was told Biden called Obama inexperienced when he first announced his run for presidency.

[grammawhamma]

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Those are very very wise words. It is too bad that the majority of blacks only saw color when they voted for Obama...and ignored the content of his character.

[skymarshal1]

The MLK speech? Talk about giving Republicans a gift. I can hear the South laughing now.

[candy-apple]

it''''s funny now that Senator Obama is the Dem. nominee he is "mixed race" i thought that it was believed if you had a drop of black blood you were black, colored or negro. when did this change? you mean to tell me now i can proudly say i a black/white man no matter what my complexion?


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Posted by mike-avelli at 01:36 PM : Aug 28, 2008

I don''t care if you''re pink w/purple polk-a-dots. I have no problem with someone being of mixed race. I have no problem with people''s race. I have a problem with someone using their race as an excuse and/or advantage/disadvantage. I was raised to respect all people unless given a reason not to. How can Obama expect someone to celebrate his heritage when he''s in denial himrself?

[grammawhamma]

I was ten when MLK gave his famous speech. He was a good man. I wonder what MLK would think of Barack Obama. I have a feeling he would not be impressed.