Mar 20 at 10:30 AM - Sale 2697 -

Sale 2697 - Lot 248

Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900
MARTIN LUTHER KING. Detroit Council for Human Rights Presents . . . I Have a Dream, Recorded Live at Cobo Hall. Vinyl LP phonograph record, 11¾ inches round, with labels on both sides bearing alternate title "I Had a Dream," in printed 12¼-inch outer sleeve with printed label sticker; vinyl not tested but apparently minimal wear, minor wear to plain inner sleeve, foxing and minimal wear to outer sleeve. Detroit, MI: HOB Recording, [1963]
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Additional Details

King recorded this oration at Detroit's Cobo Hall on 23 June 1963, at the conclusion of the "Walk to Freedom" which drew more than a hundred thousand marchers. As the title suggests, it was an earlier version of his famous speech at the 28 August March on Washington just two months later.

The record label, HOB Records, had an interesting history. It began with a hair salon, the House of Beauty, founded by Carmen Murphy in 1948. In the late 1950s, she branched out into issuing gospel records under the HOB label. Carmen Murphy is credited here as producer, and Richard Simpson as recording director. This sleeve was apparently issued for one of HOB's gospel records, "His Eye is on the Sparrow" by Gerald Spraggins. The track list for that album appears on verso of the outer sleeve, and the sleeve also bears the catalogue number HOB 234 which was originally issued for the Spraggins record (see the catalogue of HOB gospel releases on the sleeve verso). We suspect that under the orange printed sticker on the cover, the name of Spraggins might appear.

The Discogs website shows just three collectors claiming to own copies of this scarce King recording.

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