"I Have a Dream"

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.

Foreword—By Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Chairman, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, iv
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