Manuscript of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" Speech to be auctioned
On January 22, 2027, Christie's auction house will auction in New York City the only handwritten version of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, which King delivered in front of 250,000.
Auction house Christie's on January 22, 2027 will put up for auction in New York the only handwritten version of the speech of Martin Luther King "I have a dream", which King gave in front of 250,000 people, said the auction house.
“When I first saw these pages and realized what was in front of me, I was amazed,” said Christie’s manuscript specialist Peter Clarinet.
According to him, the document is a real historical value and allows you to see a moment that literally changed the course of the history of the country.
The speech takes seven pages with edits and crossed out phrases. King wrote it with a blue pen in his Willard hotel room hours before the performance.
A manuscript in the late 1990s found Xernon Clayton, the wife of King's assistant Edward T. Clayton, among his papers in a desk drawer. The document was in an envelope with the inscription “Speech”. At the time, she understood its historical value, but did not know that it was the only surviving handwritten final version of the speech. In 2024, she and Christie’s confirmed their authenticity and uniqueness.
It is noteworthy that in the original version there are no famous words “I have a dream”. King said them impromptuly at a speech during the March on Washington.
The proceeds from the sale will be sent to several charities, the auction house notes.
The cost of the manuscript is expected to exceed $10 million. Before the auction, it will be shown to the public for the first time at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta from November 16 to 22, and from January 15 on King’s birthday, to January 21 at Christie’s in New York.
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) was one of the most prominent leaders of the African-American civil rights movement in the United States. On August 28, 1963, he delivered a "I Have a Dream" speech at the Abraham Lincoln Memorial in Washington during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
In 1963, King was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year, and the following year he became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner.
