August 28, 1963
"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 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 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 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, the Negro is still languishing in the corners
of American society and finds himself 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'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 to which every American was to fall heir. This note was
a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable 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 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 have 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 rise from the dark
and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.
Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's
children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of
racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
"It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment
and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. 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. 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 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 and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone.
"And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We
cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil
rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied 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. 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 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 tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow 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 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, that in spite of the difficulties and
frustrations of 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 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 slaveowners will be able to sit
down together at a table of brotherhood.
"I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert
state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be
transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
"I have a dream that my four 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 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 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 a 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 every 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!"
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