T he P ortland O bserver * F ebruary 14 1996
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B LACK HI STORY
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King Delivers Dream Speech
(E d ito r’s note: Martin Lu th er
King Jr. delivered the follow ing
speech on the steps o f the Lin co ln
Memorial, Washington D .C., A u
gust 28, 1963:)
Five score years ago, a great Amer
ican, in whose symbolic shadow we
stand signed the Emancipation Proc
lamation. This momentous decree
came as a great beacon light o f hope
to millions o f Negro slaves who had
been seared in the flames o f wither
ing injustice. It came as a joyous
daybreak to end the long night o f
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 o f the Negro is
still sadly crippled by the manacles
o f segregation and the chains o f dis
crimination.
One hundred years later, the Ne
gro lives on a lonely island o f poverty
in the midst o f a vast ocean o f mate
rial prosperity. One hundred years
later, the Negro is still languishing in
the comers o f American society and
finds him self 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’scapital to cash a check. When
the architects o f our republic wrote
the magnificent words o f the Consti
tution and the declaration o f Inde
pendence, they were signing a prom
issory note to which every American
was to fall heir. This note was a
promise that ail men would be guar
anteed the inalienable rights o f life,
liberty, and the pursuit o f happiness.
It is obvious today that America
has defaulted on this promissory note
insofar as her citizens o f color are
concerned. Instead o f honoring this
sacred obligation, America has g iv
en the Negro people a bad check
which has come back marked “ insuf
ficient funds.” But we refuse to be
lieve that the bank o f justice is bank
rupt.
We refuse to believe that there are
insufficient funds in the great vaults
o f opportunity o f this nation. So we
have come to cash this check — a
check that w ill give us upon demand
the riches o f freedom and the securi
ty o f justice. We have also come to
this hallowed spot to remind Am eri
ca o f the fierce urgency o f now. Th is
is no time to engage in the luxury o f
cooling o ff or to take the tranquil iz-
ing drug o f gradualism.
Now is the time to rise from the
dark and desolate valley o f segrega
tion to the sunlit path ofracial justice.
Now is the time to open the doors o f
opportunity to all o f G od’s children.
Now is the time to lift our nation from
the quicksands o f racial injustice to
the solid rock o f brotherhood.
It would be fatal for the nation to
overlook the urgency o f the moment
and to underestimate the determina
tion o f the Negro. This sweltering
summer o f the N egro’s legitimate
discontent w ill not pass until there is
an invigorating autumn o f freedom
which has engulfed the Negro com
no, we are not satisfied, and we will
and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is
munity must not lead us to distrust o f
not be satisfied until justice rolls
not an end, but a beginning.
all white people, for many o f our
down like waters and righteousness
Those who hope that the Negro
white brothers, as evidenced by their
like a mighty stream.
needed to blow o ff steam and will
presence here today, have come to
I am not unmindful that some o f
now be content w ill have a rude
realize that their destiny is tied up
you have come here out o f great trials
awakening if the nation returns to
with our destiny and their freedom is
and tribulations. Some o f you have
business as usual. There w ill be nei
inextricably bound
come fresh from
ther rest nor tranquility in America
to our freedom.
narrow cel Is. Some
until the Negro is granted his citizen
We cannot walk The whirlwinds of
o f you have come
alone.
ship rights. The whirlwinds o f revolt
revolt will continue to from areas where
And as we walk,
w ill continue to shake the founda
your quest for free
tions o f our nation until the bright
we must make the shake the foundations dom left you bat
day o f justice emerges.
pledge that we of our nation until the
tered by the storms
But there is something that I must
o f persecution and
b r's M t e y o f i ^
say to my people who stand on the
staggered by the
back. There are e m e r g e s .
warm threshold which leads into the
w inds o f police
palace o f justice. In the process o f
those who are ask-
-Dr. Martin Luther K in g , Jr, brutality.
ingthe devotees of
gaining our rightful place we must
Yo u have been
not be guilty o f wrongful deeds. Let
civil rights, “ When
the veterans ofcre-
w ill you be satisfied?” We can never
us not seek to satisfy our thirst for
ative suffering. Continue to work
freedom by drinking from the cup o f
be satisfied as long as our bodies,
with the faith that unearned suffering
bitterness and hatred.
heavy with the fatigue o f travel, can
is redemptive.
We must forever conduct our
not gain lodging in the motels o f the
Go back to M ississippi, go back to
struggle on the high plane o f dignity
highways and the hotels o f the cities.
Alabama, go back to Georgia, go
and discipline. We must not allow
We cannot be satisfied as long as the
back to Louisiana, go back to the
our creative protest to degenerate
Negro’s basic mobility is from a
slums and ghettos o f our northern
into physical violence. Again and
smaller ghetto to a larger one.
cities, knowing that somehow this
again we must rise to the majestic
We can never be satisfied as long
situation can and w ill be changed.
heights o f meeting physical force
as a Negro in M ississippi cannot vote
Let us not wallow in the valley o f
with soul force.
and a Negro in New Yo rk believes he
despair.
The marvelous new m ilitancy
has nothing for which to vote. No,
I say to you today, my friends, that
w,"Z“
If
Top Left: Martin Luther King Jr. delivering his “I Have a Dream
Speech" during the 1963 March on Washington.
Bottom Left: Martin Luther King (in robe) prepares to speak on the
steps o f the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Above: A massive crowd gatheres in front o f the Lincoln Memorial
during the March on Washington, the site where Martin Luther King
Jr. delivered his famous "I Have A Dream " speech.
in spite ofthe difficulties and frustra
tions o f 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 ou, the
true meaning o f 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 ofGeorgia the sons o f former
slaves and the sons o f former slave
owners will be able to sit down to
gether at a table o f brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even
the state o f Mississippi, a desert state,
sweltering with the heat o f injustice
and oppression, w ill be transformed
into an oasis o f freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four ch il
dren w ill one day live in a nation
where they will not be judged by the
color o f their skin but by the content
o f their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the
state o f Alabama, whose governor’s
lips are presently dripping with the
words o f interposition and nullifica
tion, w ill be transformed into a situ
ation where little black boys and
black girls w ill be able to join hands
with little white boys and white girls
and walk together as sisters and broth
ers.
I have a dream today. I have a
dream that one day every val ley shal I
be exalted, every hill and mountain
shall be made low, the rough places
w ill be made plain, and the crooked
places w ill be made straight, and the
glory o f 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 w ill be able to hew
out ofthe mountain o f despair a stone
o f hope. With this faith we w ill be
able to transform the ¡angling dis
cords o f our nation into a beautiful
symphony o f brotherhood. With this
faith we will be able to work togeth
er, to pray together, to struggle to
gether, to go to ja il together, to stand
up for freedom together, knowing
that we w ill be free one day.
This w ill be the day when all o f
G o d ’s children w ill be able to sing
with a new meaning, “ My country,
’tis o f thee, sweet land o f liberty, o f
thee I sing. Land where my fathers
died, landofthepilgrim 'spride, from
every mountainside, let freedom
ring.”
And if Am erica is to be a great
nation this must become true. So let
freedom ring from the prodigious
hilltopsofNew Hampshire. Le, free
dom ring from the mighty mountains
ofN ew Yo rk. Let freedom ring from
the heightening Alleghenies o f Penn
sylvania!
Le t freedom rin g from the
snowcapped Rockies o f Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curva
ceous peaks o f California!
But not only that; let freedom ring
from Stone Mountain o f Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout
Mountain o f Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill
and every molehill o f Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let free
dom ring.
When we let freedom ring, when
we let it ring from every village and
every hamlet, from every state and
every city, we w ill be able to speed
up that day when all o f G o d ’s ch il
dren, black men and white men, Jews
and Gentiles, Protestants and Catho
lics, w ill be able to jo in hands and
sing in the words o f the old Negro
spiritual, “ Free at last! free at last!
Thank God Alm ighty, we are free at
last!”
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