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.

Allusions and quotations

In addition to King's own vivid rhetoric, he incorporated several carefully-chosen quotations and rich political and religious allusions to build his case. In order of their appearance:

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• First, to Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, and The Emancipation Proclamation — "Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand , signed the Emancipation Proclamation."
• To America's founding documents — "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.'"
• To Amos 5:24 — "We will not be satisfied until 'justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.'"
• To the Declaration of Independence — "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.'"
• To Isaiah 40:4-5 — "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."
• To the song "My Country 'Tis of Thee" — "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!'"
• In closing, to "the words of the old Negro spiritual: 'Free at last! free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'"