What is the historical context of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech?

According
to an illuminating
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/09/martin-luther-king-dream-speech-history">article

by The Guardian, this was not the first time time Martin Luther
King had
used the words "I have a dream" in a speech. However, it was the
first time he was
addressing the nation. As The Guardian
says, his speech took place in
Washington, DC, in front of 250,000 people and
three television networks. So, in this regard,
what was thought by some of
his followers as a rather a trite line, "I had a dream,"
became synonymous
with the civil rights movement and African Americans' march toward

equality.

The quote below puts the line in more
context.

I have a dream that my four
little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged
by the color of their skin but by the content of their
character. I have a
dream...I have a dream that one day in Alabama, with its vicious racists,

with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and
nullification,
one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black
girls will be...

href="https://www.archives.gov/files/press/exhibits/dream-speech.pdf">https://www.archives.gov/files/press/exhibits/dream-speec...


href="https://www.history.com/topics/civil-rights-movement/i-have-a-dream-speech#section_4">https://www.history.com/topics/civil-rights-movement/i-ha...


href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/09/martin-luther-king-dream-speech-history">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/09/martin-luth...