Wednesday will mark the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington that soon came to be equated with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech, "I Have a Dream."

Delivered with what I take to be a Southern preacher's passionate cadence blended into skillful anaphora, the speech was filled with literary allusions, historical references, and homely images.

King began with, "Five score years ago" — an unmistakable reminder of President Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address," in November 1863, which began, "Four score and seven years ago," echoing the Bible.