1968
1929
I HAVE A D R EA M
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 sympolic shadow we
stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous de
cree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves, who
had been seated in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous
daybreak to end the tang night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro ie 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 ma
terial 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 So
we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we've come to our nation's Capitol to cash a check. When the
architects of our repuplic 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 inali
enable rights of lifa, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note in
sofar 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 insuffi
cient 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. W e have also come to this hallowed
spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of NOW. This is not time to
engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradu
alism. Now is the tirr.e 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 six
ty-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 awaken
ing 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 un
til the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my peoplo 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 bitter
ness 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 physi
cal violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meet
ing 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 ask 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 tra
vel, 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 chil
dren are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stat
ing, "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mis
sissippi 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. Some
of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you bat
tered 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: "W e 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 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 trans
formed 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 tire« »kin but 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 driping 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, every hill and
mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plane and
crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be re
vealed, 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 -th is 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 Coloradol
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California,
But not only that Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgial
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of 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,"
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Portland Observer, January ?6 1983 Section II Page 7
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