Liverpool tourist chiefs stand by Martin Luther King claim, Daily Telegraph, Monday, 4 April 2011.

". . . tourism officials in the city have published the extraordinary claim that Martin Luther King’s 'I have a dream' speech was written at a city centre hotel. The allegation has been made in a guide to a major art event entitled 'Liverpool Discovers', commissioned by amongst others, the city council.

"A map in the guide shows how more than 20 locations where famous people were born along with places associated with celebrities and events in their lives.

"The guide proclaims: 'Martin Luther King visited his supporters in Liverpool three times, and the first draft of his famous "I have a dream" speech is alleged to be written on Adelphi Hotel headed notepaper.'

"The speech, delivered to civil rights campaigners on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington in 1963, is one of the most quoted texts in history and was a defining moment in the American Civil Rights movement and in the fight for racial equality."

The claim seems to be very dubious.



The following article might give the true dope about the first draft of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech:

On Martin Luther King Day, remembering the first draft of 'I Have a Dream' by Clarence B. Jones, Washington Post, Sunday, January 16, 2011.

Mr. Jones was a speechwriter for Dr. King and he says that before arriving in Washington, D.C., before MLK gave the speech, nothing had been done to begin writing the speech:

". . . it wasn't until mid-August that Martin had Stanley [Levison, another adviser and speechwriter] and I work up a draft. And though I had that material with me when I arrived at the Willard Hotel in Washington for a meeting on the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 27, Martin still didn't know what he was going to say. . . . 12 hours before the March on Washington began, Martin gathered with a small group of advisers to hammer out the themes of his speech."

Chris