Martin Luther King | "I Have A Dream" Speech

At this time I have the honor to present to you the Moral leader of our Nation [I] Have the pleasure to present to you, Dr. Martin Luther King 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 100 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 100 years later the negro lives on a lonely island of Poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity 100 years later the negro is still languished in the corners of American Society and finds himself in exile in his own land 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 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 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 1963 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 awakening 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 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 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 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 body is 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 the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only" 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 tribulation Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells Some of you have come from areas where your 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 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" That one day on the red hills of Georgia 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 down 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 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 This is a peace that I go back to the south with.