I Have a Dream

"I Have a Dream" is both the identifying phrase of and popular name for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s most famous speech, an important part of the American Civil Rights Movement. The speech was delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial as part of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. It speaks powerfully and eloquently of King's desire for a future where blacks and whites would coexist harmoniously and as equals.

Related Topics:
Martin Luther King, Jr. - Speech - American Civil Rights Movement - Lincoln Memorial - March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom - Washington D.C. - August 28 - 1963

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The popular name comes from the best-known passage of the speech:

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: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 a table of 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 transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four 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.

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:I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed 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 together 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.

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