Martin Luther King, Jr.
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!
Created by the Midwest University Center for Diversity
