Martin Luther King (1929-1968)
The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his "I Have a Dream" speech
before thousands assembled on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington,
D.C., August 28, 1963. (Background)
I am happy to join with you today in what
will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the
history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we
stand today, 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 their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is 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. (.wav)
One hundred years later, the Negro still languishes in the corners of American
society and finds himself an exile in his own land.
So we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In
a sense, we've 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--yes, black men as well as white men--would be guaranteed
the unalienable 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,
a 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've 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 make real the promises of democracy. 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 lift our nation from the quicksand of
racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time
to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.
This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass
until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen
sixth-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 tranquillity 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 that 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
a 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 they have come to realize that their
freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always 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 the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police
brutality. 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 our children are stripped of their
selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only."
We
cannot 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.(.wav)
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 jail cells.
Some of you have come from areas where your crest--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 South Carolina,
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, so even though we face the difficulties
of today and tomorrow, 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 slave owners will
they be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream... that one day even the state of
Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering
with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom
and justice.
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.
I have a dream today! [Crowd roars.]
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with
its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the
words of interposition and nullification, one day right there in Alabama
little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little
white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers....I have a dream today!
[crowd roars]
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 that
I go back to the South with. 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...this will be the day when
all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning. "My
country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land
where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrims' pride, from every mountainside,
let freedom ring," and if America is to be a great nation, this must become
true.
[King continues above continuous and rising applause
and cheers.] 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 slopes of
California!
But not only that.
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain in Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and mole hill
of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring, and when
this happens...when we allow freedom to ring, when 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!
"I Have a Dream," license granted by the Heirs of Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., by permission of Intellectual Properties Management,
Atlanta, GA
Text
and photos © Pieri & Spring Productions. All rights reserved.
Video by YouTube.com
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