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Martin Luther King The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his "I Have a
Dream" speech before thousands assembled on the steps of the Lincoln
Memorial, Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963.
" 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 in the midst of a vast ocean
of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro still
languishes in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile
in his own land.
So we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. 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, 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." But we refuse to believe
that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are
insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So
we've come to cash this check--a check that will give us upon demand the
riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce
urgency of "now." This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off
or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make
real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and
desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now
is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to
the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality
for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.
This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass
until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen
sixth-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro
needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude
awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be
neither rest nor tranquillity in America until the Negro is granted his
citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the
foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But that 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."
