"I Have a Dream": The Life of Martin Luther King: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A documentary short with the title "I Have a Dream": The Life of Martin Luther King. It consists of a single reel of black-and-white 16mm polyester film with an optical sound track.

With an emphasis on Dr. King's public appearances, the documentary shows scenes from Dr. King's early life and provides a chronology of the civil rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1968
• Created by: Bailey Films, Inc., American, 1938 - 1969
• Subject of: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., American, 1929 - 1968
• Owned by: D.C. Public Library, American, founded 1896
• Type: sound films
• Type: black-and-white films (visual works)
• Type: short subjects
• Type: 16mm (photographic film size)
• Medium: polyester film
• Dimensions: Duration: 28 Minutes
• Dimensions: Length (Film): 1000 Feet
• Place used: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: Civil Rights
• Topic: Documentary films
• Topic: Film
• Topic: Men
• Topic: U.S. History, 1953-1961
• Topic: U.S. History, 1961-1969
• Object number: 2017.55.82.1a
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Transferred from the DC Public Library
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Restrictions likely apply. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.