I Have a Dream
by Martin Luther King,
Jr.
Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln
Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963
Five score years ago, a great American, in
whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to
millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of
withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long
night of captivity.
But one hundred years later, we must face
the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years
later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles
of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years
later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of
a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the
Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and
finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to
dramatize an appalling condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation's
capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote
the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of
Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every
American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would
be guarranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has
defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color
are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America
has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked
"insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of
justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient
funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have
come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the
riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to
this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now.
This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the
tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the
dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial
justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of
God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the
quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of
brotherhood.
It would be fatal for the nation to
overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the
determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's
legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating
autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end,
but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off
steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the
nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor
tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship
rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the
foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice
emerges.
But there is something that I must say to
my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace
of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not
be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst
for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on
the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our
creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and
again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force
with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the
Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for
many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here
today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our
destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We
cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge
that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who
are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be
satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy
with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the
highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long
as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger
one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi
cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which
to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied
until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty
stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have
come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come
fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your
quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and
staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the
veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that
unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to
Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the
slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this
situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of
despair.
I say to you today, my friends, that in
spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still
have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American
dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation
will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold
these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created
equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red
hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former
slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of
brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the
state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of
injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of
freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four 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.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the state of
Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words
of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a
situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to
join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together
as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley
shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the
rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made
straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh
shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith with
which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew
out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we
will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a
beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to
work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail
together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be
free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's
children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis
of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers
died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let
freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation
this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious
hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains
of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of
Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped
Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous
peaks of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from
Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of
Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and
every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom
ring.
When we let freedom ring, whem we let it
ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every
city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's
children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and
Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the
old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty,
we are free at last!"
The Declaration of
Independence
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men
who signed the Declaration of Independence? Click here to find
out.
The Pledge of
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Facts about our Pledge of Allegiance
She's a Grand Ole
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Facts about our flag.
Old
Glory
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Bill of
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The ten amendments and why they are so very important to us
today.
Our Nation's
Presidents
A list of our presidents.
I Have a
Dream
Martin Luther King’s famous speech.
President
Reagan's Remarks at the U.S. Ranger Monument
One of two speeches commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the D-Day
Invasion, this speech was delivered at the site of the U.S. Ranger
Monument at Pointe du Hoc, France, where veterans of the Normandy
Invasion, and others, had assembled for the ceremony.
President Bush's Prayer
Service Speech
September 14, 2001, 2:02 PM EDT
Fourth of July
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