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Occurring on Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, President Clinton's second inauguration ceremony was thick with references to King's work and the successes of the civil rights movement. Calling the nation to a continued struggle for racial equality, President Clinton alluded to King's most famous speech, "I Have a Dream," and its occasion, the March on Washington.
Thirty-four years ago, the man whose life we celebrate today spoke to us down there, at the other end of this Mall, in words that moved the conscience of a nation. Like a prophet of old, he told of his dream that one day America would rise up and treat all its citizens as equals before the law and in the heart. Martin Luther King's dream was the American Dream. His quest is our quest: the ceaseless striving to live out our true creed. Our history has been built on such dreams and labors. And by our dreams and labors we will redeem the promise of America in the 21 st Century.
For President Clinton and most Americans, "I Have a Dream" sums up King's lifework; indeed, "I Have a Dream" has become the touchstone of American memory of the struggle for civil rights. Describing the genesis of this speech, many historians attribute this remarkable speech to late-night inspiration or sun-lit rapture. For example, in his biography of Martin Luther King Jr., Stephen Oates reports that on the night before the March on Washington, King and his aides "labored on his speech throughout the night" (2 56). Halfway through "I Have a Dream," Oates continues, "King abandoned his text and spoke from his heart" (260). In Parting the Waters, a best-selling, Pulitzer Prize-winning study of King, Taylor Branch claims that in mid-delivery King spurned his text. Once he began speaking "extemporaneously," "there was no alternative but to preach" (882). These accounts complement contemporary news media reports that emphasized the distinctiveness of the March on Washington and of King's speech. And this is how we remember "I Have a Dream," framing it in our political discourse and our textbook anthologies as though it were a spontaneous and unique outpouring.
"I Have a Dream," however, is the product of African American rhetorical traditions of ceremonial protest and jeremiad speech-making, rituals that...