"I Have a Dream": A 50th Year Testament to the March That Changed America

This book is a celebration of the 50th anniversary of this address and includes narrative and more than 100 stunning photos from the march in Birmingham, Alabama, through the March on Washington. The photographs come from Bob Adelman, one of the most notable photographers of this movement. His work has been featured in Time, Newsweek, and the Associated Press. It is authored by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an organization in which Dr. King served as the first president.

America’s most prominent Civil Rights organizations united into joint leadership, with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) prominent among them, to lead one of the largest political rallies ever to march on Washington, D.C.

Some say it was Mahalia Jackson who called out from the crowd to King: “Tell them about the dream.” He did.

And, Lord, did America listen.

This photo journal is a testimony to an event that changed America.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African-American civil rights organization. SCLC was closely associated with its first president, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The SCLC had a large role in the American Civil Rights Movement. SCLC is a now a nation-wide organization made up of chapters and affiliates with programs that affect the lives of all Americans: north, south, east and west. Its sphere of influence and interests has become international in scope because the human rights movement transcends national boundaries.

Bob Adelman (Miami, FL) is an American photographer known for his images of the African-American Civil Rights Movement. Raised on Long Island, New York, he earned his B.A. at Rutgers University, Law Studies from Harvard University, and M.A. in Philosophy from Columbia University.  Adelman used his background as a graduate student in Applied Aesthetics from Columbia University to forge close ties with leading figures of art and literature, including Andy Warhol and Samuel Beckett. After studying photography for several years under the tutelage of famed Harper’s Bazaar art director Alexey Brodovitch, Adelman volunteered as a photographer for the Congress of Racial Equality in the early 1960s, a position that granted him access to Civil Rights Movement’s key leaders, including Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and James Baldwin.

Adelman currently resides in Miami Beach. His work is represented by the Howard Greenberg Gallery.

Introduction,    v

The Earliest Days,    1

    Somber Days for Humanity,    1

The Emancipation Proclamation,    5

    Transcript of the Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863,    6

    Steps Forward and Back,   9

Fighting for the Rights Due All Americans: The Road to the March,    11

The March Itself: Photographs and Captions, Bob Adelman,    47

    The Full Text of the “I Have a Dream” Speech,    182

The Aftermath: 1963–April 4, 1968,    225

    The Civil Rights Act,    225

    The Voting Rights Act,    227

    Ongoing SCLC Activities,    228

    The Day the King Fell,    230

    The SCLC Through the Years That Lay Ahead,    231

Fifty Years Later, a Look at Today—By Dr. Rodney Sampson,    233

Timeline of Events,    237

Endnotes,    244

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference,    245

Bob Adelman,    247

MARCH Graphic Novel Excerpt,    249