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Article: MLK, Inc. : The selling of the dream.
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- December 6, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Tourists climbing the steps of the Lincoln Memorial will soon know the exact spot where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963-if the Senate approves a bill passed by the House on November 9 to mark the site with a plaque. It's a good idea: King delivered the 20th century's Gettysburg Address there. Commemorative plaques were invented for such purposes.
It had better be small, though, and shouldn't quote too extensively from the speech. If it does, the federal government could be slapped with a lawsuit by the King estate for violating a copyright. When USA Today reprinted the text of the speech in 1993, the King family sued. The newspaper ...