I have a dream

It is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in America. This is the full text of MLK's heroic and devastatingly moving speech delivered on August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.  I strongly urge you to read it again, if you haven't done so in a while, and I defy you to remain unmoved by it. An audio version is available here.

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. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And 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. And 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 quicksands 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 sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And 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. And 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 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.

And 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 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 jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- 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.

And 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 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!

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!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and 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, and 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.

And 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 Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And 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 snow-capped 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 of Tennessee.

                Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom 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!

[This post was inspired, at least partly, by my brilliant niece Sheherzad Preisler who memorized the whole speech at age five.]

Comments

[ellroon]

Thank you for reminding us why we have Martin Luther King Day in the U.S. How sad to listen to such an intelligent and passionate leader and realize what we lost that day.

Wandered over here following an explanation of Suduko mathematics and find this site delightful. I'll be sending your address on to my friends.

Keep up the wonderful work!

[Hootsbuddy]

Although this speech has become King's most enduring legacy, I was more deeply moved at the time by his Letter From a Birmingham Jail. Together with the "On Pilgramage" columns of Dorothy Day from the Catholic Worker and a handful of other commentaries from what would later become a robust Christian Left (although we never called it that) I was marked for life as a hopeless, helpless political Liberal. We never thought of ourselves as left or right. Most of us had the naivete to imagine we were simply doing the right thing in a world in need of improvement.
My first post for today is a short recollection of those days.

[steve]

the voice of humanity-we will always hear you Dr. King....you will live forever and your words of inspiration will never die...

[John Beezer]

Hi,

There's a very moving song about MLK available on my website ... it's called Coming Up On Washington. It's a Weed file, which means you can listen to it for free and legally share it.

http://worldwideworlds.com/weed

John
[email protected]
http://weedshare.com

[Irene]

I think that it is time for all of us to try to remember every day that it is the spark of humanity that lives in our hearts and ignites our minds that can lead us further faster than ever before. At a time when technology, knowledge and material comforts are greater than ever before, the World Health Organization is forecasting that stress will the the major cause of disability by the year 2020. It is time for all of us to read or listen again to Dr. King's words and to also stop to think about we can each to in our lives, in our careers to help build a better human bottom line. It is time to remember noble dreams and to bring them to life before the need, greed and ego that has destroyed every fiefdom, empire and more recently toppled once great corporations starts to destroy lives...then jobs...then our economy.
Irene www.justcoachit.com

[PF]

MLK was a Communist!!!
He did not even write the "I Have A Dream" Speech!!
It was written by Jack O ' Dell and Banyard Rustan. Both were Communists!!!
MLK's dream did nothing but evil to America.
WAKE UP AMERICA!!!

MLK IS A FALSE IDOL !!!!!!!!!

[toby]

being a child of the black and white culture i must say that MLK was and is the fore runner of peace and love between the two races. i say this because i truey have been a product of the joining of the races. so for those who have nothing but derogitory or slanderous remarks toward the great man-first look at yourself and judge the human being you are and post the results on a web site for all to see. im looking forward to see those results!!!

[toby]

Being a child of the black and white culture i must say that MLK was and is the fore runner of peace and love between the two races. I say this because i truely have been a product of the joining of the races. so for those who have nothing but derogitory or slanderous remarks toward the great man-first look at yourself and judge the human being you are and post the results on a web site for all to see. im looking forward to seeing those results!!! Maybe youll find out that YOU are the communist.

[Toby R. W-----]

Being a child of the black and white culture i must say that MLK was and is the fore runner of peace and love between the two races. I say this because i truely have been a product of the joining of the races. so for those who have nothing but derogitory or slanderous remarks toward the great man-first look at yourself and judge the human being you are and post the results on a web site for all to see. im looking forward to seeing those results!!! Maybe youll find out that YOU are the communist.

[keke]

This speech makes me cry to know that we are partially living his dreams.....
Still rite now and today we are having an hard time understanding that we are not living his dreams . Even though we still are trying to .............

but one day we wil be free......like an bird

[Nicky Pierre]

This is the best speech I have ever heard. This speech makes me cry everytime and I could never get tired of it. Thank God almighty that we are free at last!

[Kevin Cai]

i go with keke.free as a bird...

[kevinkillhill]

This speech makes me feel sad and bad about the unfair times of america...

[Dan]

thank you , I'm doing a speech on religious freedom
in my speech class and I'm using facts that i got on all the church burnings. Im angry that they dont stop.

[ann]

wow

[Martin Luther King Jr.]

Martin Luther King Jr.

[Dr BLT]

Martin Luther King is proof that you can die from simply having a dream and sharing it with the world. Yet, we should never stop dreaming, especially when our dream will help make tomorrow a better world. This is my tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.:

It Only Hurts When I Cry
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr. Bruce L. Thiessen, aka Dr BLT (c) 2006
http://www.drblt.net/music/itonlyhurts.mp3

Thanks to Martin Luther King, people of all races face can be promised:

A Future 2B Hold
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr. Bruce L. Thiessen, aka Dr BLT (c) 2006
http://www.drblt.net/music/future3.mp3

Bruce
aka Dr BLT
Blog n Roll Artist

[Donna]

MLK was a man like no other. Sometimes when I am just sitting quietly and thinking about all the hard work that he did while in our midst, it brings tears to my eyes.
We talk about him during the month of Februry, but then, do we ever think again before the nest February rolls around?
Please mothers and fathers--tell your children what he did for all of us. Let's reinventory ourselves and see if we are doing all that we can to "keep the dream alive." Let's go forward, not backwards.

[tyty]

I love to read this speech every time i here this speech it makes me remember what MLK did to end segrgation. Thank God all mighty we are free at last.

[Sep 4, 2007]

great speech martin luther king, today in this world we can all start to be free, because yo ur words alone, change the stars around.......free.....soaring the world together as one big family

[Jennifer Langlois]

I am glad that Martin Luther King Jr. did what he did many years ago. Its sad though that in some places it hasn't triggered. For example, I live in a small town in North Carolina and if a black comes into a store they just ignore them. When one comes in where i work I am more than willing to help them out.