MLK Dream Resounds in Historic Audio
- Aug 12, 2015
- 1 min read
By Nash Dunn
For years, Rocky Mount citizens have told tales about hearing the first rendition of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
On Nov. 27, 1962, nine months before the refrain echoed across the National Mall during the March on Washington, the words rang out in a segregated high school gymnasium in the small North Carolina town.
In a 55-minute address to a packed house of 1,800 local residents, King delivered — for the first time — phrases that would ultimately inspire millions.
Five decades later, that remarkable speech has a new, vastly larger audience. NC State English professor Jason Miller, who discovered an audio tape of the Rocky Mount speech in 2013, is making the restored recording available to the public ...
