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Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.
"I have a dream"
[Address at March on Washington, 28
August 1963, in front of 250.000 people at the Lincoln Memorial, see
photo on the left] |
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]
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.
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 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]
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]
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