The only known handwritten final draft of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech will be auctioned in New York in January, with an expected price tag of more than $10 million at the final hammer.
The Historic Speech
The seven-page manuscript, written in blue ink on yellow legal pad paper, contain handwritten edits, crossed-out passages, and revisions ahead of the 1963 March on Washington where he delivered the powerful speech.
Christie’s announced that the document will be offered as a single-lot sale on Jan. 22, 2027. Before the auction, the manuscript will be displayed publicly at the auction house’s New York location at 20 Rockefeller Plaza from Jan. 15 to Jan. 21, coinciding with King’s birthday, The New York Times reported.
The document was reportedly completed in the early hours of Aug. 28, 1963, in King’s room at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. He wrote the final version after days of discussions with advisers, including speechwriter Edward T. Clayton.
The manuscript was preserved by Clayton, a former aide to King who also served as head of public relations for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. His widow, Xernona Clayton, rediscovered the pages in his desk drawer in 2024. She had first come across the document in the late 1990s but did not realize its historical significance at the time.
One of the most interesting details is what the manuscript does not contain: the famous words “I Have a Dream.” King added that phrase spontaneously while delivering the speech to the massive crowd gathered at the Lincoln Memorial.
An estimated 250,000 people attended the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Months earlier, on June 23, 1963, Dr. King also delivered an early version of the speech theme in Detroit before a crowd of 25,000 people at Cobo Hall.
The proceeds from the auction will benefit several charities, including The King Center in Atlanta and the Xernona Clayton Foundation.