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. 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
This will be the day when all of God's children
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 Pilgrims pride from
every mountainside
Let freedom ring", and if America is to be a great nation this
Must become true and 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 snow-capped Rockies of Colorado
let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes 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 and when this happens
when we allow 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"