​i have a dream

[Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.]
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 of hope to millions of 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 is still not free
One hundred years later, thе life of the Negro is still sadly cripplеd by the manacle 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 is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land
So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition

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;
That one day right down 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 will go back to the South wi-i-i-i-i-i-i-i