His speech helped pave the way for the Civil Rights Act of
1964 to be passed in America and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Luther
King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. But while millions can
recall the five-minutes when Luther King spoke about his dream of former slaves
and slave-owners sitting down together on the red hills of Georgia,
many may have not watched the speech in it’s 17-minute-long entirety. And
with issues of equality still being widely disputed in the USA today, it is perhaps
an important watch that still rings true today. Here is Martin Luther
King’s speech in full.
Martin Luther King's Speech in full ;
“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, 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 captivity. ‘But 100 years later, we
must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still 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 is still languishing in the corners of
American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come
here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a sense we’ve come to our
nation’s capital to cash a cheque. 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 would be guaranteed the inalienable 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 colour
are concerned. Instead of honouring this sacred obligation, America has given
the Negro people a bad cheque 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 cheque – a cheque that will give us upon
demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. Sweltering summer… of
discontent 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 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 quicksands of racial
injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a
reality for all of God’s children. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addresses
marchers at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington (Picture: AP) ‘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. 1963 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 there 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. We must forever
conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not
allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.
Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of
meeting physical force with soul force. The marvellous new militancy which has
engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people,
for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have
come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come
to realise that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot
walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead.
We cannot turn back. The civil rights leader Martin Luther KIng waves to
supporters (Picture: Getty) ‘There are those who are asking the devotees of
civil rights: “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long
as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We
can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel,
cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.
We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto
to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped
of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “For Whites
Only”. We cannot be satisfied and we will not be satisfied as long as a Negro
in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for
which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until
justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. ‘I am
not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and
tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you
have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the
storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have
been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that
unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama,
go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of
our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be
changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today,
my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I
still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
Walk To Freedom marchers with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
marching for racial equality in Detroit Michigan(Picture: Francis Miller
Time Inc Owned) ‘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 little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the colour 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 little 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 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. This will be the day, this will be the day when
all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning: “My country,
’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers
died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And 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 peaks 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 every
molehill of Mississippi, from every mountainside, let freedom ring! And when
this happens, when we allow freedom to 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!"
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