The only known handwritten final draft of Martin Luther King Jr.'s “I Have a Dream” speech will be displayed publicly and then offered at Christie's New York. The sale is scheduled for January 22, 2027, with proceeds going to several charities.
King wrote the draft in blue ink across seven yellow legal-pad pages at Washington's Willard Hotel on August 28, 1963. Later that day, he delivered the speech to 250,000 people at the March on Washington.
The pages were found in a desk drawer among papers belonging to Edward T. Clayton, King's aide and a contributor to his speechwriting. Clayton's wife, Xernona Clayton, first found the draft in an envelope marked “speech” in the late 1990s. She rediscovered it in 2024 and identified it as the only known handwritten final draft.
The manuscript contains edits and cross-outs. It does not include the words “I Have A Dream,” which King added spontaneously while delivering the speech, but it preserves his conclusion: “Free at last, free at last; thank God almighty, we are free at last.”
The document will be shown to the public for the first time at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta from November 16 to 22. It will also be displayed in Chicago at a date to be announced.
At Christie's New York, the manuscript will be on public view from January 15 to 21, 2027, before being offered in a single-lot sale on January 22. Its estimate is available on request, and it is expected to sell for more than $10 million. Beneficiaries include the Xernona Clayton Foundation and The King Center in Atlanta.
