Handwritten final draft of Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech heads to auction

A draft found in a desk drawer

Christie's will offer the only known handwritten final draft of Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech at auction in New York in January 2027, and expects it to fetch more than $10 million. The seven pages were written in blue ink across yellow legal pad sheets, with crossings-out and edits throughout. King completed the draft in the early hours of 28 August 1963 at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., and delivered the speech that afternoon. The manuscript had long been assumed to have been discarded, and it resurfaced more than six decades later.

Edward T. Clayton, a former aide to King, kept the manuscript in his desk drawer. Reports describe his role in different ways, with Christie's calling him a trusted speech writer. The consignor is his widow, Xernona Clayton, who first found the draft in the late 1990s, did not know then that it was the only known final draft, and put it back in the drawer. She rediscovered it in 2024, and experts later confirmed that it is unique. Proceeds will go to the King Center in Atlanta and to other philanthropic causes chosen by Xernona Clayton.

How King wrote the speech

In the days before the speech, King worked through ideas with his aides, who had compiled various themes and motifs into preliminary drafts. He then wrote his own version by hand, crossing out words and whole paragraphs before the text was typed up. Christie's said King set out to limit his remarks to five minutes while weighing both word choice and flow. The draft does not contain the words 'I have a dream', which King added spontaneously while delivering the speech on the day of the march, according to Christie's. The pages therefore show a text that predates the phrase most associated with it.

Why the estimate is so high

On 28 August 1963 an estimated 250,000 people had gathered in the capital to march for civil rights, and King spoke from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Christie's described the speech as the most important of the 20th century and one of the most important in American history.

“The stirring words that he delivered that afternoon have come to be regarded as the most important speech of the 20th Century”

Peter Klarnet, Christie's manuscripts specialist, said the pages make a reader feel present as King composes and edits in real time. A price above $10 million would place the document alongside rare copies of the nation's founding documents, a comparison the auction house has drawn in its own presentation.

“This is a treasure of American history.”

Display and sale schedule

The draft will first be shown publicly at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta from 16 to 22 November 2026, and will then be displayed in Chicago. Christie's will display the pages at its New York premises from 15 to 21 January 2027, which is King's birthday, before offering them in a single-lot sale on 22 January 2027. Proceeds will benefit the King Center in Atlanta and the other causes chosen by the consignor.