In his iconic speech at the Lincoln Memorial for the 1963 March

on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, King urged America to

"make real the promises of democracy." King synthesized
portions of his earlier speeches to capture both the necessity
for change and the potential for hope in American society.
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, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as
a great beacon light of hope to millions 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 one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later,
the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and
the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a
lonely island of poverty .

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 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 of freedom and justice.

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”, 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, 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 one day.

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!”

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 snow-capped Rockies
of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous 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, and 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!”