i Have a Dream Speech -- full text

7/27/2019 i Have a Dream Speech -- full text

1/6

'(1 HAVE A DREAM ..."LVTFIERKING,Copyright 1963, M.~RTIN JR.)

Speeoh by the Rev. MAXTINLUTHEEKINGA t the "Marah ~n Wa&hi~xgton"

I am happy to join with you today in what will go downin history as the greatest demonstration for freedom inthe histmy of olw nation.

Five smre yeag ago a great American in w h w s p -Imlic shadow we stand today signed the EmancipationProshation. This momen~tousdeoree is a great W nlight of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had beenseared in the flames of withering injustice. It cmm ais ajoyous d:tybreak t o end the long night of their captivity.But 100 years la te r the Negro still is nok free. One hun-dred yearn later the life of t,he Xegro is still badlycrippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains ofdiwrimination. One hundred gears later the Negro liveson a lonely island of povedp in the mjidst d a vast meamof matr.ria1 prosperity. O w hundred years later theNegao is still lanlgnisl~cd ill the cornem of American=ie$ and finds hinleclf in exile in his m a d . Sowu'vc come ho1.c. today to (1mma.tize a shamdul ccmditicm.

I n a sense w~t l 'wG o m e to our nation's capital to casha c+heck. When the aJrrahiteet.s ~f our Republic wrote themzpifiemt WOI-(1sf the Constitution and the h l a r a t i o nd Lmdepcintlc.nce, thcp were signing a promissory note towhich ewry h le r ioan was to fall heir. This note was apromise that. dl IWII-yes, black nwn as well as whiteme-n-would he g~al .a~ lt wdhe unalienable rights of life,liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious todaytha$ America has defaulted on this promissory note inso-fkr as hnr citizens of cololr arc c.oncerned. Ins'tead of ,-


2/6

honoring this sacred obligation, ~ m e & a has given theNepo people a bad d e c k , a check whioh has come backmarked " inisrdfioient funds."But we refuse to believe that tihe bank of justice istmikrupt. W e ~.ef,fuseo belierc? that there are insufficientSuncis in the gma,t vaults of opportunity of this nation.So we've come to cash t h i s check, ti check that will give11s upon demand the ridlcs of f~eedom nd the security ofjustice.

We have dw conic to this hallowed spot to remindAmerica of the fierce urgcacp of now. This is no time tocl~g,agcin the 11ixui~ f cooling off or to ta.ke the t-ran-quilizing di-ng of gradualism. Now is the time to makeleal the prmlisos of democracy. Now is the time to risefrom the dark and rlcsolatt. valley of segregation to themillit path of racial j~wticc~.Now is the time to lift ourion from the qaicksands of racial injustice to the solidrock of bbr.fitfherhowl.

Now is the time t.o nlalrc justice a 1-mlity for a l l aGod's child~en. It wo~.ltlbe f a t d for the nation t o over-look the urgency of the momen,t. This swelte&.g summerof the Xegro's legitimate discontent. wil l nat pass untilthere is an invigol-atiag autumn of freedm and equality-1963 is not an end but rz beginning. who hopethat the Xegro needed to blow off sim.m and will now bec*cmtenlwill have a n d c a wakening if the miioln retumwto business as wud .

There will be neither rest nor tranquility In America,until the Negro is granted his fiitizenship rights. Thewhirlwinds of revo l t will con:t.inue to shake the f o u d a -tiom of our nation until the bright d q s of justice merge.

(Copyright 1963. MARTINLCTI-XFRIW., JR. )


3/6

Anii that is something that I must say to my people whoat& an the worn threshold whioh leads the palmof justice. In the prmess d gaining our rightful p l wwe must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us notseek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by dl-i;nking fromthe cup of bithrness anld h a h d .

We must forever conduct our struggle cm t~he igh planeof dignity and diwipline. We must not allow oar erea-tive proltests to degenerate into physicd videme. Againand again we must. rise to t


4/6

We canad be srtthfid a63 10% as the-Negro in Mis-sisbippi oannot vote and the %fegro' in New York believeshe has nothing for prrbiah to vde. 6 \ .No, no, we are not satisfied,d we will wit be sakis-Eed until justice. rolls down like wakemi azEd r i g h t e m m ~l ike ,a mighty b e a m .

I ain not unmindful that some otf you have c d e here ,out of' gm.t t r i a l s a.nd tribulation. Some of you havecome frewh from narrow jail d l s . Some of you have 'oom4 from areas where your ,quest for freedm left you1m.ttered by the stoms of persecuhn and stagger& bythe winds of police brutality. You have been t h e veterans'of creative suffering.

Continue to work with the faith that-n m m d sufferkgis redemptive. Go baek to hiississippi, go back to Ala-fhma , go back to Sonth Carolina, go back to Georgia, go .t w k to Louisiana, go back to the s lu m and ghet-tmd ourNm t h e r n cities, knowing t . b t somehow this situation &anand will be cihamged. Lit us not wa.Ilow in the vailey ofdespair.

I say to you %day,my friends, though, even thoughwe face the difficultiesof toclay and torno~~ow,still ha wa dream. I t is a dream deeply rooted in the Amerieaac h a m . I have a dream thak me day this nation will riseup, live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold thesetruths to be self-erident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream t b t olle day on the red hills of Georgiasow of for~rmei-laves and the *om of former slave-ownerswill be able to sit down together at tqhe table of brother-h o d . I have a dream that one day even the state ofMississippi, a state sweltering with the beat d njustice,

(Copyright 1963, MARTINLUTHF~ING, JR.)


5/6

sweltering with tihe heat of oppression, will be trans-f'onned h t o an oasis of freedom and justice.I have a ream that my four little children will me daylive in a 13iat.icmwhere they will not be judged by the oololrof ;their~ k i iut by the content of their &rmtm.r.r I haveu d r a m . . . I have a dresjlm that one cEay in AJabama.,with ibs vbious racists, with its governor h.avin.g his lipsdripping with the wards of interpwitim wd nullifi+tion,one day right t.here in Alabama little black boys and blackgirls will be able to join hands with litkle white boyis andwhite girls as sist&s and brothers.1 b v g a dream today . . . I have a aream that one day

every vadley shall be exdted, every hill and mountain&dl be made low. The rough places wild be made plain,aad the crooked places 'will be made straight. &nd theglory of the Lord shall be rereal&, and all flesh &all seeit together. This is our hope. This is thle faith that 1go I>aolc to bhhc Sout.h wi1,h. Wikh this faith we will beable to hew out d the mount& of despair a stane ofI~o~rn.Vith this faith we will be able to transform thejsl~glingdiscords of our nation into a b ~ u t i f ~ lymphonyc d ' brotherhwd. MTith this faith we will be able ta worktogether, to pray to get he^, to struggle together, to go tojail together, to stand ap for freedom @ether, knowingthat we will he frre one day.

This will be the day when all of God's ahildren will beable to sing with new meaning. "My country, 'tis of thee,swot lami of liberty, of t h e I sing. Land where my?'athers d i d , land of the pilgrim's pride, from everyn~ountain ide, let freedom ring." And if h e r i m is tohe rr grea t nation, this mudt become true. S o let freedomsing from the p r ~ i g i o u s illtops d New Hampshire.Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New

(Copyright 1963, MARTISIXI'HERKING,R.)


6/6

Park. kt,freedom ring from the heightertiing Allegkniesof Pennsylvania. k t reedom ring f r m the mowcappedRmkias o& Colorado. Let freedom ring from the eurva-c+mus s l o w of California.

But nat hnly that. Let freedom rhg from Stone Msun-tain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Looko;ut Moun-t-& of Tmcj.ssee. k t freedom ring from every hill andmolehill of hGssiwippi, from every mounhin side. Letfreedom ring . . .

When we allow freedom to ring-when we l e t it ringfrom every city and every ha.mlet, from every s~tateandevery aity, we will be able to speed up that day when d lCUF God's children, black men and white men, Jews andGentiles, Proteslhts and Catholim, will be able to joinhands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual," F m at last, Free at last, Great God a-mighty, We axefree at last."

(Copyright 1963, MARTINLUTHER JR.)ING,

Documents

i Have a Dream Speech -- full text