Martin Luther King Jr. 'I Have a Dream' speech: Watch video, read text and listen to audio

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Many reflected on the life and work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Monday, a holiday to honor America's most revered civil rights leader.

One of the most popular activities of Martin Luther King Jr. Day is the replaying and remembering of his famous "I Have a Dream Speech," given on Aug. 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. ( Click here to listen to the speech in MP3 format ) Mobile: http://bit.ly/yBstUA

During the 17-minute speech, occurring during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, King called for racial equality and an end to discrimination. The speech is considered a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

"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," King told the more than 200,000 civil rights supporters gathered in Washington.

The speech was originally titled "Normalcy, Never Again," according to Martin Luther King Online .

The website said the first drafts never included the phrase "I have a dream." King reportedly added in the "I have a dream" phrase when he deviated from his prepared text and started improvising, according to the website.

This reportedly occurred after gospel singer Mahalia Jackson shouted to King from the crowd, "Tell them about the dream, Martin." That's when King deviated from his prepared speech and instead started preaching, "punctuating his points with 'I have a dream,'" according to Martin Luther King Online.

The speech was one of more than 2,500 King delivered between 1957 and his assassination on April 4, 1968, according to the Nobel Prize website . King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.