In Commemoration Of
Dr. Martin Luther Kins Jr.
n> .viduin Liuuici
King, Jr.
On August 28, 1963,
more than two hundred
and fifty thousand Ame
ricans-about sixty thou
sand of them white-part
icipated in a March on
Washington for Jobs
and Freedom, to de
mand immediate imple
mentation! of a
civil-rights bill
and immediate imple
mentation of basic guar
antees in the Declara
tion of Independence,
and the thirteenth, four
teenth, and fifteenth
amendments. It was the
largest demonstration
£ in the history of the
nation’s capital. The or
3 derly procession moved
* from the Washington
< Monument to the Lin
: coin Memorial, where
tj A. Phillip Randolph,
5 Martin Luther King,
•: Roy Wilkins, Walter
j Reuther and others ad
; dressed the immense
e gathering. Dr. King’s
l address had a tremen
| dous effect on the audi
* ence and has been wid
s ely published; it is re
5 printed here by permis
s sion of Mrs. Martin Lu
3 ther King, Jr.
r i v e, atunt ye,ak£>
5 AGO, a great American,
i in whose symbolic sha
t dow we stand, signed
a the Emancipation Pro
; clamation. This momen
: tous decree came as a
* great beacon light of
- hope to millions of Ne
* gro slaves who had been
seared in the flames of
* withering injustice. It
*1 came as a joyous day
break to end the long
night of captivity.
But one hundred
years later, we must
face the tragic fact that
the Negro is still not
i free. One hundred years
later, the life of the Ne
gro is still sadly crip
pled by the manacles of
segregation and the cha
ins of discrimination.
One hundred years la
ter, the Negro lives on a
lonely island of poverty
in the midst of a vast
ocean of material pros
ars later the Negro still
languishes in the cor
ners of American sociey
and finds himself an ex
ile in his own land. So we
have come here today to
dramatize an appalling
condition. •
In a sense we have
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 Indepen
dence, they were sign
ing a promissory note to
which every American
was to fall heir. This
note was a promise that
all men would be gua
ranteed the unalienable
rights of life, liberty and
pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today
that America has defa
ulted on this promissory
note insofar as her citi
zens of color are con
cerned. Instead of hono
ring this sacred obli
gation, America has
given the Negro people
a bad check; a check
which has come back
marked “insufficient
funds.” But we refuse to
beleive that the bank of
justice is bankrupt. We
refuse to beleive that
there are insufficient
funds in the great vaults
of opportunity of this
nation. So we demand
the riches of freedom
and the security of jus
tice. We have also come
to this hallowed spot to
remind America of the
fierce urgency of now.
This is no time to en
gage in the luxury of
cooling off or to take the
tranquilizin'g drug of
gradualism. Now is the
time to make real the
promises of democracy.
Now is the time to rise
fron^h^iarlwmc^iesc^
late valley of segrega
tion to the sunlit path of
racial justice. Now is
the time to open the
doors of opportunity to
all of God’s children.
Now is the time to lift
our nation from the
quicksands of racial in
justice to the solid rock
of brotherhood.
It would be fatal for
the nation to overlook
the urgency of the mo
ment and to underesti
mate the determination
of the Negro. This swel
tering summer of the
Negro’s legitimate dis
content will not pass un
til there is an invigora
ting autumn of freedom
and equality. Nineteen
sixty-three is not an end,
but a beginning. Those
who hope that the Negro
needed to blow off ste
am and will now be con
tent will have a rude
awakening if the nation
returns to business as
usual. There will be nei
ther rest nor tranquility
in America until the Ne
gro is granted his citi
zenship rights. The whi
rlwinds of revolt will
continue to shake the
foundations of our nat
ion until the bright day
of justice emerges.
But there is some
thing that I must say to
my people who stand in
the warm threshold
which leads into the pal
ace 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 bitter
ness and hatred. We
must forever conduct
our struggle on the high
plane of dignity and dis
cipline. We must not al
low our creative protest
to degenerate into phy
sical violence. Again
and again we must rise
to the majestic heights
of meeting physical for
ce with soul force. The
marvelous new mili
tancy which has engulf
ed the Negro commun
ity must not lead us to a
distrust of all white
people, for many of our
white brothers, as evi
denced by their pres
ence here today, have
come to realize that
their destiny is tied up
with our destiny and
their freedom is inex
tricably bound to our
freedom. We cannot
walk alone.
And as we walk, we
must make the pledge
that we shall march a
head. We cannot turn
back. There are those
who are asking the de
votees of civil rights,
“When will you be satis
fied?” 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, hea
vy with the fatigue of
travel, cannot gain lod
ging in the motels of
highways and the hotels
of the cities. We cannot
be satisfied as long as
the Negro’s basic mobil
ity is from a smaller
ghetto to a larger one.
We can never be* satis
fied 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 jus
tice rolls down like wat
ers and righteousness
like a mighty stream.
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. Some of you have
come from areas where
your quest for freedom
left you battered by the
storms of persecution
and staggered by the
winds of- police brutal
ity. You have been the
veterans of creative suf
fering. Continue to work
wim me iaim mai un
earned suffering is
redemptive.
Go back to Mississ
ippi, go back to Ala
bama, go back to South
Carolina, go back to
Georgia, go back to Lou
isiana, go back to the
slums and ghettos of our
modern cities, knowing
that somehow this situa
tion can and will be
changed. Let us not wal
low in the valley of
despair.
I say to yor today, my
friends, that in spite of
the difficulties and
frustrations of the mo
ment I still have a dre
am. 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 cre
ed: “We hold these tru
ths 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 slave
owners will be able to sit
down together at the ta
ble of the 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 trans
formed into an oasis of
freedom and justice.
I have a dream that
my four little children
will one day live in a
nation where thay will
not be judged by the
color of their skin but by
the content of their cha
racter.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one
day the state of Ala
bama, whose governor’s
lips are presently drip
ing with the words of
interposition and nulli
fication, will be trans
formed 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 to
gether 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, and the
rough , places wiil be
made plains, and the
crooked places will be
made straight, and the
glory of the Lord shall
be revealed, and all fle
sh shall see it together.
This our hope, This is
the faith with which I rt
turn to the South. Wit
this faith we will be abl
to transform the jang
ling discords of our nat
ion into a beautiful sy
phony of brotherhood
With this faith we will b«
able to work together, t<
pray together, to strug
gle together, to go to jai
together, to stand up foi
freedom together, kno
wing that we wil be fret
one day.
This will be the day
when all of God’s child
ren will be able to sing -
with new meaning, “My
country 'tis of thee ,
sweet land of liberty
thee I sing. Land where
my fathers died, land of
the pilgrim’s pride,
from every mountain
side, 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 heighten
ing Alleghenies of Penn
sylvania.
L.et treeaom ring
from the snowcapped
rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from
the curvaceous peaks of
California !
But not only that; let
freedom ring from St
one Mountain of Geor
gia!
Let freedom ring from
every hill and 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 apd Gentiles.
Protestants and Catho
lics, 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!”
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