28 August 1963
Washington, D.C.
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. [applause]
Fivescore
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 one
hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. [Audience:] (My Lord)
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 material prosperity.
One
hundred
years later (My Lord) [applause], the Negro is still languished in the
corners of
American
society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And 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
(Yeah), 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 "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." [sustained applause]
But we refuse
to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. (My Lord) [laughter] (Sure
enough)
We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults
of
opportunity
of this nation. And so we’ve come to cash this check (Yes), a check that
will give
us upon demand the riches of freedom (Yes) and the security of justice.
[applause]
We have
also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency
of
now. This
is no time (My Lord) to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take
the
tranquilizing
drug of gradualism. [applause] Now is the time to make real the promises
of democracy.
(My Lord) 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 [applause] to lift
our
nation
from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
Now is
the time
[applause] 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 sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning.
And 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. [applause]
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. (My Lord) [applause] 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. [applause]
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 are asking the devotees of civil rights,
"When
will you
be satisfied?" (Never)
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 [applause] as long as our
bodies,
heavy with
the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways
and
the hotels
of the cities. [applause] 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." [applause] 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. (Yes)
[applause] No, no, we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until
"justice
rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." [applause]
I am not
unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations.
(My Lord)
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
(Yes) 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 (Yes), 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.
(Yes) Let
us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to
you today, my friends [applause], so even though we face the difficulties
of
today and
tomorrow, I still have a dream. (Yes) It is a dream deeply rooted in the
American
dream.
I have a
dream that one day (Yes) 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."
(Yes) [applause]
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 state sweltering with
the
heat of
injustice (Well), sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed
into
an oasis
of freedom and justice.
I have a
dream (Well) [applause] 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.
(My Lord) I have a dream today. [applause]
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"
(Yes), 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.
[applause]
I have a
dream that one day "every valley shall be exalted (Yes), and every hill
and
mountain
shall be made low; the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked
places
will be made straight (Yes); and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all
flesh shall
see it together." (Yes)
This is
our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. (Yes) With
this faith
we will
be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. (Yes) With
this
faith we
will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful
symphony
of brotherhood. (Talk about it) With this faith (My Lord) 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. [applause] This will be
the
day [applause
continues], this will be the day when all of God’s children (Yes) will
be
able to
sing with new meaning:
My country, ’tis of thee (Yes), sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride (Yes),
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring (Yes) 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. (Yes, That's right)
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado. (Well)
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. (Yes)
But not only that: Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. (Yes)
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. (Yes)
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. (Yes)
From every mountainside, let freedom ring. [applause]
And when
this happens [applause continues], when we allow freedom ring, when we
let it
ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city
(Yes), 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! (Yes) Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! [applause]
Click here to hear Martin Luther King, Jr. speak
Thank you
to http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/mlk/sound/dream_resample.au