1
I
F
1
I HAVE A DREAM
I am happv to join with you today in what w ill go down in until the bright dav of justice emerges.
history as the greatest demonstration fo r freedom in the
But that is something that I must say to my people who
history of our nation.
stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic
justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must
shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us nor seek to satisfy
This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope our th irs t fo r freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness
to m illio n s of Negro slaves, who had been seared in the flames and hatred.
of w ithering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane
the long night of th e ir capivity.
of dignity and discipline.
We must not allow our creative
But one hundred years la te r, the Negro is s till not free. protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again
One hundred years late r, the life of the Negro is s till sadly we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical
crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of force with soul force. The marvelous new m ilitancy which
discrim ination.
One hundred years la te r, the Negro lives
has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a dis
on a lonely island of poverty in the m idst of a vast ocean tru s t of a ll white people, fo r many of our white brothers,
of m aterial prosperity. Once hundred years la te r, the Negro as evidenced bv th e ir presence here today, have come to
is s till languished in the com ers of American society and realize that th e ir destiny is tied up with our destiny. And
finds him self an exile in his own land. So we have come here they have come to realize that th e ir freedom is inextricably
today to dramatize a shameful condition.
bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
In a sense we’ ve come to our nation’s Capitol to cash a
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall
check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magni
always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those
ficent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Inde
who ask the devotees of c iv il rights, "When w ill you
pendence, they were signing a prom issory note to which every
be satisfied?”
We can never be satisfied as long as the
American was to fa ll heir. This note was a promise that all
Negro is the victim of the unspeakable ho rro rs of police
men - - yes, black men as well as white men - - would be b rutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies,
guaranteed the unalienable rights of life , liberty and the heavy with the fatigue of tra ve l, cannot gain lodging in the’
pursuit of happiness.
motels of the highways and the hotels of the citie s. We cannot
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this
be satisfied as long as the Negro’ s basic m obility is from a
prom issory note insofar as her citizens of co lo r are con
sm aller ghetto to a la rg e r one. We can never be satisfied
cerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America
as long as our children are stripped of th e ir selfhood and
has given the Negro people a bad check: a check ’which has
robbed of th e ir dignity by signs stating ’ ’ For Whites Only” .
come back marked ’ ’insufficient funds” . But we refuse to
We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in M ississippi
believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to
cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing
believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults
fo r which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we w ill
of opportunity of this nation.
So we’ ve come to cash this
not be satisfied until justice ro lls down like waters and
check - - a check that w ill give us upon demand the riches
righteousness like a mighty stream.
of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out
to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency
of great tria ls and tribulations.
Some of you have come
of NOW. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling
fresh from narrow ja il ce lls. Some of you have come from
off o r to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is
areas where your ouest fo r freedom left you battered by the
the tim e to make real the promises of Democracy. Now is
storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police
the tim e to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segre
b rutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering.
gation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time
Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is
to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to
redempti ve.
the solid rock of brotherhood.
Now is the tim e to make
Go back to M ississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to
justice a re a lity fo r all of God’s children.
South C arolina, go back to Gerogia, go back to Louisiana,
It would be fatal fo r the nation to overlook the urgency of
go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern c itie s ’
the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's lig iti-
knowing that somehow this situation can and w ill be changed’.
mate discontent w ill not pass until there is an invigorating
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the
an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed
d ifficu ltie s of today and tom orrow , I s till have a dream. It
to blow off steam and w ill now be content w ill have a rude
is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There
I have a dream that one day this nation w ill rise up and
w ill be neither rest nor tra nqu ility in America until the
live out the true meaning of its creed: "W e hold these
Negro is granted his citizenship rights.
The whirlwinds
truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal” .
of revolt w ill continue to shake the foundations of our nation
I have a dream that one day on the red h ills of Georgia the
I
__
• k
ernn
¡n r.
w h ir
oi
iiu iiu
.
i
-
iu
sons of form er slaves and the sons of form er slaveowners
w ill be able to s it down together at the table of brotherhood:
I ha«e a dream - -
That one day even the stare of M ississippi, a state sweltering
with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppres
sion, w ill be transform ed into an oasis of freedom and Justice
I have a dream - -
That my four little children w ill one day live in a nation
where they w ill not be Judged by the colo r of th e ir skin but
the content of th e ir 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 nullifica tion, one day right
there in Alabama little black boys and black g irls w ill be
able to join hands with little white boys and white g irls as
sisters and brothers: I have a dream today - -
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted,
every h ill and mountain shall be made low, the rought places
w ill be made plan and crooked places w ill be made straight,
and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and a ll flesh
shall aee it together.
This is our hope.
This is the faith that I go back to the
South with. With this faith we w ill be able to hew out of the
mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we w ill
be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into
a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
With this faith we
w ill be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle
together, to go to ja il together, to stand up fo r freedom to
gether, knowing that we w ill be free one day.
This w ill be the day . . .
This w ill be the day when a ll of
God's children w ill be able to sing with new meaning ” My
country 'tis of thee, sweet land of lib e rty , of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the p ilg rim 's pride,
from every mountainside, let freedom rin g ,” 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 Y ork, 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 C alifornia!
But not only that let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of
Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let
freedom
ring from even* h ill and mole h ill of
M ississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring,
and when this happens.
When we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from
every village and everv hamlet, from every state and every
c ity , we w ill be able to speed up that day when a ll of God's
children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, P ro
testants and C atholics, w ill be able to join hands and sing
in the words of the old Negro s p iritu a l, "F re e at last! free
at last! thank God alm ighty, we are free at la st!”