Non-USers: how familiar are you with this speech?

I’m not gonna name the speech in the thread title because of the bias it introduces (only people who know the speech would open the thread), but there’s a pretty good chance that a lot of you will guess what speech I’m going to name anyway.

It’s probably the most famous speech in American history. There’s only one other speech that I’d consider in the running.

The speech I’m talking about, of course, is Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Every schoolchild learns about the speech in their primary years, and it gets quoted all the time here. But it occurred to me recently that maybe it’s famous here the way Admiral Nelson is famous in the UK–that is, everyone in the country knows of it, but outside of the country, knowledge of it is more limited to history nerds.

So what about it, folks? Are you familiar with the speech, and if so, how familiar, and when did you learn about it?

I had an American History class in high school where it was covered. But I knew about it beforehand from references in TV and movies.

I was wondering if you were thinking of that speech or the Gettysburg Address, which in case you’re curious would have had the same answer for me. American culture gets exported quite a bit.

I am currently teaching Italian teenagers of about 14. They are learning about this speech this year and it is in the national English exam. They don’t have to memorise it, but they certainly have to know its significance.

FWIW, I attended majority African-American schools for elementary, middle, and high schools, and I never “learned about” it once. As it happens, I was honored* to recite parts of it** at a special event***, and wound up having most of it memorized at one time, but your above statement definitely does not hold true for this former schoolchild.

  • It took a lot of balls for Mrs. Weston to give the King part to a white kid.

** About half the total length, IIRC, basically just an abbreviated version.

*** I give myself credit for not to try to do it as an impersonation. That might have caused a riot.

I’m American, so rather than answer the post I’m going to suggest you start a “most famous speech in American history” question (poll would be too close-ended). Before you revealed it, I was thinking Gettysburg (or Lincoln’s Second, but that might actually be unfortunately obscure) or the Kennedy space speech. Not that IhaD isn’t among the top few… wonder what else is there?

The term “USers” brings back memories of an obnoxious and banned poster.

Better to simply call them “Un-Americans”.

Certainly couldn’t recite it. Seen the rather grainy black-and-white TV recording of it a number of times. I, too, thought the Gettysburg Address would be the one.

I heard the speech when he gave it and at least annually since. It’s inspirational on many levels.

I’m Canadian. I’m familiar with bits and pieces of it, but I couldn’t recite the whole thing by heart or anything. Same with the Gettysburg Address, though.

It was never covered in school, so I guess I just learnt about it through media. Grew up in New Zealand.

As an American, I’d have pegged the Gettysburg Address as more famous. It’s the one I had to memorize in sixth grade. “I Have a Dream” I didn’t learn about until high school, and never heard it in its entirety until many years later.

I don’t know much of the speech beyond he had a dream or something. I think.

I’m British. State school educated. I know that Martin Luther King was a black American who was big in the civil rights movement in the 1960s. He delivered a famous speech, which started with “I have a dream”. Something about white kids and black kids living together. I have no idea how the rest of the speech went. I remember being confused when I first read about Martin Luther, the clergyman, so I surmise that I learned about King first.

He was shot dead by somebody who wasn’t famous, and there wasn’t a major conspiracy about it. There is a public holiday in the US named after him.

That’s about the extent of my knowledge of Martin Luther King. Probably slightly more than most British people younger than me, less than people who were alive when he was alive. Chubby, friendly-looking face. Probably not a saint in real life, but he’s not a real person any more, he’s an icon. I understand that, on a political level, he’s more or less untouchable, e.g. you’re on a hiding to nothing if you try and dig dirt about his private life.

Also, he was (a) betrayed by a kiss (b) washed on an empty beach (c) most definitely shot early in the morning despite what the history books say and (d) they couldn’t take his pride.

It’s worth pointing out that I don’t know much more about Admiral Nelson, and I suspect I’m not alone. Admiral, first name Horatio, one of ours, beat the French, 1800s? Something about fire ships. Shot by sniper, died saying either “kismet, Hardy”, or “kiss me, Hardy”. Pleasured his mistress twice in his top boots.

No, sorry. That was the Duke of Marlborough. But Nelson had an eye for the ladies, oh yes:

Rare example of an oil portrait from long ago that doesn’t make the woman look like a fat over-made-up cream puff, there.

Same for me, and I grew up in the UK, NZ and Germany. Spent a year in the US at 11, but pretty sure we didn’t cover it in school that year (8th grade).

The responses are about what I thought, except that I’m surprised at the number of Americans (sorry about USers, I didn’t want Canadian pedants getting all snippy, can’t win for losing sometimes) who think the Gettysburg Address is more famous. That was definitely the only other speech that might be in the running, but I figure that although plenty of people know “four score and seven years ago,” a lot more school kids know significant lines from “I have a dream,” and more importantly know why exactly it was given and know its central thesis.

I don’t think Kennedy’s space speech would be in the running. His inaugural line about “ask not” might be, but not the whole speech. Other than Gettysburg and I Have a Dream, I can’t think of anything else that comes close.

This may be a feature of my current position in the school system, however; it’s interesting to think of how it was taught previously, or even how it’s taught in other classrooms and systems today. Folks with elementary-aged kids, do you know how familiar your own kids are with IHAD vs. Gettysburg?

As far as rhetoric goes, the only speeches I had to memorize in my american parochial schooling were the Gettysburg address and the preamble to the constitution. (Ok, maybe I’m being a little loose with the definition of speech here.) “I Have A Dream”? Sure, I knew about it and I bet we watched clips of it at various points in social studies classes but I don’t remember any specific lines beyond the first 4 words. I was in grade school in the 90s and 00s.

Another American who thinks that the Gettysburg Address is the most famous speech in American history, that and Columbus’ we’ll trade you smallpox for all of this continent speech.

So I’m going to really shame myself here, but though I know ‘of’ the Gettysburg address, I couldn’t recite one word of it to you.

Though it ‘may’ be covered in school depending on which bit of history you study, I doubt many Brits would rank it higher in fame than ‘I have a dream’, which wasn’t covered in school but is much more likely to pop up on TV.

Australian here; I get the reference to MLK if someone uses the “I have a dream” quote but I couldn’t tell you any more about the speech than that.

I do know considerably more about Nelson, but that’s because I’m a history buff and I’m particularly interested in the Napoleonic era. I could also tell you more about Lincoln and the Gettysberg address than most Australians because I’m a history buff and I’m mildly interested in the American Civil War.

I’d say most Australians would have heard of MLK and would get the “I have a dream” quote (because the US does relentlessly export its culture, even the bits that are completely irrelevant to everywhere else) but very few could tell you more about it than that.

Same here. I know about it, know the grainy images, know the " I have a dream" line and that is about it. I have watched the entirity of some of Obama’s speeches, though. I was deeply moved by his speech on racism.