-(1).png){kind=logo}
I Have A Dream, 1963, by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. [7 min]
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.
5 Score (x20) years ago (in 1863),
In who's symbolic shadow we stand today
Signed: The Emancipation Proclamation
This momentous decree came
As a great BEACON light of hope
To 1,000,000's 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
100 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.
I have a dream
That 1 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 (and women) are created equal.
I have a dream
That 1 day
On the red hills of Georgia
- the sons of former slaves, and
- the sons of former slave owners
Will they be able to sit down together
At the table of brotherhood
I have a dream
That 1 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 4 little children
Will 1 day live in a nation
Where they will not be judged:
- by the colour of their skin
- but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream
That 1 day
Down in Alabama
With its vicious racists
With its Governor
Having his lips
Dripping with the words of:
- interposition and
- nullification
1 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 1 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 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 1 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 father's died
- Land of the pilgrim's pride
- From every mountain side
- Let freedom ring.
And if America Glow 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 curvacious 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!
700 words, 7 min, 100 words p/minute