Only Handwritten Manuscript of Martin Luther King Jr’s I Have A Dream Speech to Auction

The final draft of the I Have a Dream speech given by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on August 28, 1963, in Washington DC will go under the hammer early next year at Christie's and is expected to sell for more than $10 million.

Focused on limiting his remarks to five minutes, Dr. King wrote the speech in blue ink across seven yellow legal pad pages after days of discussions with many advisors including trusted speech writer Edward T. Clayton. These seven handwritten pages weregiven to his assistants to be typed and sent to the media. Hours later, he delivered it to 250,000 people.

These pages are the only known handwritten final draft of the speech will be exhibited publicly and then offered at Christie’s New York to benefit several charities on January 22, 2027.

“When I first saw these pages, and realized what they were, I was astounded,” said Peter Klarnet, Christie’s manuscripts specialist. “This is a treasure of American history. It gives you chills to look at it. Reading along, you’re there in the moment with Dr. King, watching him compose it and making edits in real time. It captures a moment that literally changed the course of our nation and makes it very real and very human."

The pages, which include edits and cross-outs, were found in a desk drawer with other papers belonging to Edward T. Clayton, head of public relations for Dr. King’s civil rights organization the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and a speechwriter and editor for Dr. King who assisted with the speech’s composition. His wife, civil rights leader, philanthropist, and broadcast executive Xernona Clayton, first found the draft in the late 1990s in an envelope labeled “speech.”

While she knew the document was important and tied to Dr. King’s most well-known speech, she didn’t know it was the only final manuscript draft. She carefully tucked the document back into her late husband’s desk where it sat preserved until 2024 when she looked in the desk again and rediscovered the draft.

Notably, the original draft does not include the iconic words “I Have A Dream” which Dr. King famously added spontaneously while delivering his speech on the day of the March. The draft does, however, preserve his powerful and enduring conclusion: “Free at last, free at last; thank God almighty, we are free at last.”

Ms. Clayton established the Still Marching Irrevocable Charitable Unitrust to support organizations dedicated to advancing the causes she champions. The trust decided to offer the document to support charities focused on supporting and furthering the legacies of Ms. Clayton and Dr. King including the Xernona Clayton Foundation and The King Center in Atlanta which was founded by Dr. King’s wife, Coretta Scott King.

The manuscript will be publicly displayed at at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta November 16-22, and then in Chicago at a later date to be determined, before being exhibited at Christie’s New York at 20 Rockefeller Plaza from Dr. King’s birthday, January 15, 2027, to January 21.