Handwritten draft of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech to go on display in Atlanta
Seven handwritten pages Martin Luther King Jr. prepared for his "I Have a Dream" speech will go on public display for the first time in Atlanta this month before being auctioned for charity.
The manuscript will be exhibited at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights from Nov. 16-22, according to Christie's. The auction house describes it as the only known handwritten final draft of the speech King delivered at the March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963.
Written in blue ink on yellow legal paper, the pages include edits and crossed-out words. They do not contain the famous "I have a dream" passage, which King added while speaking, according to Christie's.
Xernona Clayton first found the pages in the late 1990s among papers belonging to her late husband, Edward T. Clayton, a speechwriter and editor who worked with King. She stored them in his desk and rediscovered them in 2024.
"I'm just glad I looked in the drawer," Clayton said in the announcement.
Christie's will auction the manuscript in New York on Jan. 22, 2027. The auction house expects it to bring more than $10 million.
The sale will benefit charities including Atlanta's King Center and the Xernona Clayton Foundation.
