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Assignment in progress for A09[ASP]/51 Due February 8, 2025

I Have a Dream
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1963 Font Size Medium

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist
who was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. He worked to end racial
discrimination against African Americans throughout his life. King delivered his
iconic "I Have a Dream" speech to over 250,000 people from the steps of the
Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., during the March on Washington for Jobs
and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In this speech, King discusses racial inequality
in America and his hopes for African Americans' civil rights.

As you read, take note of how King uses figurative language and how it
contributes to the development of the central ideas of his speech.

[1] 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,
1 signed the Emancipation

Proclamation. This momentous decree

came as a great beacon light of hope to Martin Luther King Jr. I Have a Dream
millions of Negro slaves who had been Speech by National Archives is
licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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 2 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 languished 3 in the corners of American
society and finds himself an exile 4 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, they were signing a promissory note 5 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 6
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."
[5] 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. And 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 7 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. 8 Now is the time to make real the
promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate 9
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 10 summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until
there is an invigorating 11 autumn of freedom and equality. 1963 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. And 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 12 into
physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of
meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy 13 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. And they have come to realize that
their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
[10] 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 14 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 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 15 to a larger one.
We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-
hood 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." 16

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 jail cells. And some of
you have come from areas where your quest — 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. 17 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.
[15] Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And 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: 18 "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men
are created equal." 19

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, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be
transformed into an oasis 20 of freedom and justice.
[20] 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" 21 — 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!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, 22 and 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." 23
[25] This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew 24 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.

And this will be the day — this will be the day when all of God's children will 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 Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring! 25

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious 26 hilltops of New Hampshire.
[30] 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:

[35] 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, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring
from every village and every hamlet, 27 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:
[40] Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

Reprinted by arrangement with The Heirs to the Estate of Martin Luther King Jr., c/o
Writers House as agent for the proprietor New York, NY. ©1963 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
©renewed 1991 Coretta Scott King

Unless otherwise noted, this content is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

Notes All Definitions Footnotes

1. referring to the Lincoln Memorial

2. a metal band, chain, or shackle

3. Languish (verb) : to suffer from being forced to remain in an unpleasant place or
situation
4. Exile (noun) : a person who is forced to leave their native country
5. a signed document containing a written promise to pay a stated sum to a
specified person
6. unable to be taken away from or given away by the possessor
7. holy

8. the process of taking gradual steps to reach a goal

9. Desolate (adjective) : deserted of people

10. oppressively hot
11. Invigorate (verb) : to give life and energy to
12. to sink into a low intellectual or moral state
13. the state of being aggressively active in a cause
14. Devotee (noun) : a person who is enthusiastically committed to a cause
15. a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially because of
social, legal, or economic pressure
16. This is a Bible verse from Amos 5:24.
17. Redemptive (adjective) : acting to save someone from error or evil
18. a set of beliefs or aims that guide someone’s actions
19. This quote comes from the Declaration of Independence.
20. An oasis is a fertile location in a desert with water and plants.
21. In the 1950s southern states attempted to block integration in schools by using
the legal theories of interposition and nullification, but these actions were ruled
as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1958.
22. Exalted (adjective) : placed at a high or powerful level
23. This paragraph contains language and quotes from Bible verses Isaiah 40:4-5.
24. to chop or cut something
25. These lines are verses from "My Country, 'Tis of Thee,” a patriotic song written in
1831 by Samuel Francis Smith.

26. Prodigious (adjective) : remarkably or impressively great

27. a small settlement, generally one smaller than a village

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