Today, Oklahomans (along with the rest of the world) celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day with parades, memorial services, and other events.
Though it certainly wasn’t the only speech he ever gave, his address to the 1963 March on Washington—perhaps better known as his “I Have a Dream” speech—was and remains his most famous.
Here’s a video of the original speech, followed by a re-enactment by Yukon, Oklahoma’s John Lee, who regularly travels and performs the speech. He said it took him six months to memorize the speech and the particular cadence in which it was presented,” The Oklahoman reported.
“So much of the things that Martin Luther King Jr. said in his speeches came out of the Bible, and he inspired me,” Lee said. “His courage, his desire to help people — it drove me my entire life, as it does today.”
Lee’s intensity and inspired delivery has brought him before audiences large and small, from church and civic groups to the prestigious fall 2011 dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C.
