Martin Luther King - i have a 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 desert state sweltering the heat of injustice and 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 the state of Alabama, whose governor’s lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together 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 plains, 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 with which I return to the South.

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 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. 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 peaks 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. When we let 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!”

And so I go back to the South, not in despair. I go back to the South, not with the feeling that we are caught in a dark dungeon that will never lead to a way out. I go back believing that the new day is coming and so this afternoon, I have a dream, it is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream, that one day right down in Georgia to Mississippi and Alabama, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to live together as brothers.

I have a dream this afternoon that one day, one day little white children and little negro children will be able to join hands as brothers and sisters.

I have a dream this afternoon, that one day, one day men will no longer burn down houses and the church of God simply because people want to be free.

I have a dream this afternoon, that there will be a day that we will no longer, no longer face the atrocities that Imatio had to face and Magurders face, that all men can live with dignity.

I have a dream this afternoon, my four little children will not come up in the same young days that I came up with, that they will judge, be judged on the basis of the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

I have a dream this afternoon, that one day right here in DC, negroes will be able to buy a house, or rent a house anywhere that their money will carry them, they will be able to get home.

Yes, I have a dream this afternoon that one day in this land the words of Amos will become real and justice will roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I have a dream this evening that one day we will recognize the words of Jefferson that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with some inalienable rights and among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I have a dream this afternoon, I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain should be made low, the rough places will be made clean and the crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

I have a dream this afternoon, that the brotherhood of man will become a reality in this day.

With this faith, I will go out and carve a tunnel of hope through the mountain of despair.

With this faith, I will go out with you and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows.

With this faith, we will be able to achieve this new 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 with the negroes in the spiritual of all “Free at last! Free at Last! Thank God Almighty!”