I Have A Dream

So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow

I still have a dream. 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 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, and 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, and 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

And 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 pilgrims' 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."