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]
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 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)
[Applause. 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. [Sustained
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. (Now) Now is the time (Now)
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. (Right)
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. [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. [Applause]
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, (Yes)
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)
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. With this faith (Yes) 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.
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. All
right)
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped
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. [Applause]
From every mountainside, [Applause]
let freedom ring.
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]
