I HAVE A DREAM

Martin Luther King, Jr.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs

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.
The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive
order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the Civil War. The Proclamation
changed the legal status of more than 3.5 million enslaved African Americans in the secessionist Confederate states

Confederate States of America

The Confederacy was formed on February 8, 1861, by seven slave states: South Carolina,
Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. 
from enslaved to free. As soon as slaves escaped the control of their enslavers, either by fleeing to Union lines or
through the advance of federal troops, they were permanently free. In addition, the Proclamation allowed for former
slaves to "be received into the armed service of the United States."

This momentous decree an official order given by a government came as a great beacon a fire or light
on a hill or tower, often near the coast, which is used as a signal light of hope to millions of Negro slaves
who had been seared scorched in the flames of withering intended to make someone feel humiliated or
scornful injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of
the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles one of two metal bands joined by a chain,
for fastening a person's hands or ankles 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 languished to be forced to stay
somewhere or suffer something unpleasant for a long time in the corners of American society and finds
himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful
condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our
republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of
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Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir
to inherit something. 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."
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens
of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the
Negro people a bad check, a check 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 a room with a strong door and thick walls in a bank, etc. that is
used for keeping money and other valuable things safe of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've
come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the
security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed greatly revered and honoured 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 having a calm/sedative effect on drug of gradualism. Martin Luther King, Jr. challenged a slow
and steady pathway to civil rights reform. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.
Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of
racial justice. The atmosphere of discrimination and hatred against the African Americans is described as a dark
and desolate valley of segregation. While, the way towards creating an egalitarian and just society is described as
bright and sunlit.Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands deep wet sand that you sink
into if you walk on it of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make
justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering
scorching summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating
making you feel healthier, less tired, and more energetic autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen
sixty‐three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow
off steam to do or say something that helps you to get rid of strong feelings or energy and will now be
content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be
neither rest nor tranquility 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

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soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us
to a 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.
And they have come to realize 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 always march ahead.
We cannot turn back.
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 a part of a town where many
people of the same race, religion, etc. live in poor conditions to a larger one. We can never be satisfied
as long as our children are stripped of their self‐hood and robbed of their dignity by signs
stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot 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
morality, virtue 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. And some of you have come from areas
where your quest ‐‐ 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 undeserved, unjust suffering is redemptive
liberating, rescuing.
To discover that suffering is redemptive gives meaning to the experience of human suffering, and it means
something more. It means that there is God's solidarity with us in suffering, not in a magical sense of making it
suddenly go away, but of companioning us in the very worst times of human life.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, 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 flounder, stumble in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
“Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.” means that the African Americans will not sit and wait for things to
change. It means stand up and make a change.

And 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.
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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 does not need any proof or explanation; clear, 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 brutal 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.
King was talking about Alabama Governor George Wallace refusing to obey a federal court order to
desegregate the schools, citing states' rights and Alabama's sovereignty in nullifying a federal law he didn't
like.

Known as the "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door," Alabama Governor George Wallace stood in front of Foster
Auditorium at the University of Alabama on June 11, 1963, to stop the enrollment of African-American
students Vivan Malone and James Hood. He was being confronted by Deputy U.S. Attorney General Nicholas
Katzenbach. Wallace desperately wanted to preserve segregation, but his action was in vain. In 1963,
President John F. Kennedy's administration ordered the U.S. Army's 2nd Infantry Division from Ft. Benning,
Georgia, to be prepared to enforce the racial integration of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, which
they were able to do. 

Interposition is a claimed right of a U.S. state to oppose actions of the federal government that the state
deems unconstitutional. Under the theory of interposition, a state assumes the right to "interpose" itself
between the federal government and the people of the state by taking action to prevent the federal
government from enforcing laws that the state considers unconstitutional.
Nullification is a legal theory that the U.S. states can refuse to comply with federal laws they deem to be
unconstitutional. 
Nullification is an act of an individual state, while interposition was conceived as an action that would be
undertaken by states acting jointly. Nullification is a declaration by a state that a federal law is unconstitutional
accompanied by a declaration that the law is void and may not be enforced in the state.
I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted to make somebody rise to a higher rank or
position, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain,
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 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 text describes the coming of the Messiah. A smooth path is being created for His arrival. He should not
have to climb mountains or descent into valleys, or bump over ruts, or have to take detours. There will be a
straight path for Him.
To prepare for His coming, the ground level in the valleys will be raised (exalted) and the mountains will be
cut down (made low), etc. so that he can proceed in a smooth fashion on level ground.

This text is used in one of the arias in Handel's Messiah. MLK was certainly aware of the text from the Bible,
but knew that many of his hearers, especially the non-religious ones, would know the quotation from hearing
the Messiah performed. MLK is using the hoped-for arrival of tbe Messiah as a metaphor for his hoped-for
vision of the future.

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 to cut a large piece out of rock, stone, or another hard
material in a rough way 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.
There are two metaphors which serve as a comparison for two different but related ideas:
1) racial problems = "jangling discords" and
2) racial problems solved through faith = "beautiful symphony of brotherhood"
And this will be the day ‐‐ 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 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 slopes of California.
But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

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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, 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 a person whose family was originally from the
ancient land of lsrael or whose religion is Judaism and Gentiles a person who is not Jewish, Protestants a
member of the Christian church that separated from the Catholic church in the 16th century and Catholics a
member of the Roman Catholic Church, 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!

Historical Background
"I Have a Dream" is a public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist
and Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and
Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, King called for civil and economic rights and an end
to racism in the United States. Delivered to over 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of
the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the speech was a defining moment of the civil rights
movement and among the most iconic speeches in American history.
Beginning with a reference to the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared millions of slaves
free in 1863, King said "one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free". Toward the end of
the speech, King departed from his prepared text for a partly improvised peroration on the
theme "I have a dream", prompted by Mahalia Jackson's cry: "Tell them about the dream,
Martin!" In this part of the speech, which most excited the listeners and has now become its
most famous, King described his dreams of freedom and equality arising from a land of slavery
and hatred.
Jon Meacham writes that, "With a single phrase, King joined Jefferson and Lincoln in the ranks of
men who've shaped modern America". The speech was ranked the top American speech of the
20th century in a 1999 poll of scholars of public address. The speech has also been described as
having "a strong claim to be the greatest in the English language of all time".
- The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential
proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on
January 1, 1863, during the Civil War. The Proclamation changed the legal status of more
than 3.5 million enslaved African Americans in the secessionist Confederate states from

6
 enslaved to free. As soon as slaves escaped the control of their enslavers, either by fleeing
to Union lines or through the advance of federal troops, they were permanently free. In
addition, the Proclamation allowed for former slaves to "be received into the armed
service of the United States."
- Peroratio
The peroratio ("peroration"), as the final part of a speech, had two main purposes in
classical rhetoric: to remind the audience of the main points of the speech (recapitulatio)
and to influence their emotions (affectus). The role of the peroration was defined by
Greek writers on rhetoric, who termed it epilogos; but it is most often associated with
Roman orators, who made frequent use of emotional appeals.
  
American History
Martin Luther King Jr. made the I Have a Dream speech on August 28, 1963 during the historical
march for jobs and freedom at the Lincoln Memorial. The speech was a culmination of years of
the civil rights movement with African Americans fighting for their equality in a society that only
saw them as emancipated to give somebody the same legal, social and political rights as other people slaves
rather than as human beings. At the time of the speech, Martin Luther King Jr. and other blacks
were protesting the institutionalized racism that made it impossible for African Americans to get
jobs. It had been years since slave was abolished and white Americans were yet to accept that
the black Americans were just as American as they were.
The thing that makes this one of the most memorable speeches in American history is the
courage and eloquence with which Martin Luther King Jr. tackles the systemic racism such that
even the most racist people could easily recognize where the problem was. An important
historical context for this speech is that the abolition of slavery did not end racism in the United
States. Also, even with the Declaration of Independence stating that all men are made equal, the
American leadership did not necessarily recognize the need for equality for black Americans.
The first thing that one notes about the I Have a Dream speech is that Martin Luther King Jr. was
an educated man with a good understanding of rhetoric. Many black Americans at the time had
some access to education but only in the schools that were designated for black people. This
also meant that in many areas of employment, the black Americans would only qualify for the
unskilled and low-skilled work since they were not as educated as their white counterparts. For
Martin Luther King Jr. and other black scholars to have the impact that they did on the civil rights
movement, they had to be exposed to a lot of education around politics and sociology.
Another important thing to note in this speech is that despite being a rather short speech, the
word ‘freedom’ appears about twenty times. Freedom is a primary theme for Martin Luther King
Jr.’s speech because his experience of emancipation had not been as wholistic as it would be if
the black Americans were given the freedom to take advantage of existing opportunities that
were at the time only accessible to white Americans. The use of freedom may seem pedestrian,
but it reiterates the objective of the speech.

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Also, in the second paragraph, Martin Luther King Jr. specifically uses the phrase ‘five score years
ago…’ which alludes to Lincoln’s Gettysburg address where he said ‘four score and seven years
ago…’ The implications of using the same words as the nation’s founding father allows the
audience to tie in Martin Luther King Jr.’s patriotism and its plausible implications on the
prevailing constructs of race and what it meant to be American. It is possible that this word
choice was a factor in the effectiveness of the speech in the formulation and passing of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964.

Summary and Analysis

‘I Have a Dream’ is one of the greatest speeches in American history. Delivered by Martin Luther
King, Jr. (1929-68) in Washington D.C. in 1963, the speech is a powerful rallying cry for racial
equality and for a fairer and equal world in which African Americans will be as free as white
Americans.

Background

The occasion for King’s speech was the march on Washington, which saw some 210,000 African
American men, women, and children gather at the Washington Monument in August 1963,
before marching to the Lincoln Memorial. They were marching for several reasons, including
jobs (many of them were out of work), but the main reason was freedom: King and many other
Civil Rights leaders sought to remove segregation of black and white Americans and to ensure
black Americans were treated the same as white Americans.

1963 was the centenary of the Emancipation Proclamation, in which then US President Abraham
Lincoln (1809-65) had freed the African slaves in the United States in 1863. But a century on
from the abolition of slavery, King points out, black Americans still are not free in many respects.

Summary

King begins his speech by reminding his audience that it’s a century, or ‘five score years’, since
that ‘great American’ Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This ensured the
freedom of the African slaves, but Black Americans are still not free, King points out, because
of racial segregation and discrimination.

America is a wealthy country, and yet many Black Americans live in poverty. It is as if the Black
American is in exile in his own land. King likens the gathering in Washington to cashing a cheque:
in other words, claiming money that is due to be paid. Next, King praises the ‘magnificent words’
of the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. King compares these documents
to a promissory note, because they contain the promise that all men, including Black men, will
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be guaranteed what the Declaration of Independence calls ‘inalienable rights’: namely, ‘life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness’.

King asserts that America in the 1960s has ‘defaulted’ on this promissory note: in other words, it
has refused to pay up. King calls it a ‘sacred obligation’, but America as a nation is like someone
who has written someone else a cheque that has bounced and the money owed remains to be
paid. But it is not because the money isn’t there: America, being a land of opportunity, has
enough ‘funds’ to ensure everyone is prosperous enough.

King urges America to rise out of the ‘valley’ of segregation to the ‘sunlit path of racial justice’.
He uses the word ‘brotherhood’ to refer to all Americans, since all men and women are God’s
children. He also repeatedly emphasizes the urgency of the moment. This is not some brief
moment of anger but a necessary new start for America. However, King cautions his audience
not to give way to bitterness and hatred, but to fight for justice in the right manner, with dignity
and discipline.

Physical violence and militancy are to be avoided. King recognizes that many white Americans
who are also poor and marginalized feel a kinship with the Civil Rights movement, so all
Americans should join together in the cause. Police brutality against Black Americans must be
eradicated, as must racial discrimination in hotels and restaurants. States which forbid Black
Americans from voting must change their laws.

Martin Luther King then comes to the most famous part of his speech, in which he uses the
phrase ‘I have a dream’ to begin successive sentences (a rhetorical device known as anaphora).
King outlines the form that his dream, or ambition or wish for a better America, takes. His
dream, he tells his audience, is ‘deeply rooted’ in the American Dream: that notion that
anybody, regardless of their background, can become prosperous and successful in the United
States. King once again reminds his listeners of the opening words of the Declaration of
Independence: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’

In his dream of a better future, King sees the descendants of former Black slaves and the
descendants of former slave owners united, sitting and eating together. He has a dream that one
day his children will live in a country where they are judged not by the colour of their skin but by
the content of their character.

Even in Mississippi and Alabama, states which are riven by racial injustice and hatred, people of
all races will live together in harmony. King then broadens his dream out into ‘our hope’: a
collective aspiration and endeavour. King then quotes the patriotic American song ‘My Country,
’Tis of Thee’, which describes America as a ‘sweet land of liberty’.

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King uses anaphora again, repeating the phrase ‘let freedom ring’ several times in succession to
suggest how jubilant America will be on the day that such freedoms are ensured. And when this
happens, Americans will be able to join together and be closer to the day when they can sing
a traditional African-American hymn: ‘Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free
at last.’

Analysis

Although Martin Luther King’s speech has become known by the repeated four-word phrase ‘I
Have a Dream’, which emphasizes the personal nature of his vision, his speech is actually about
a collective dream for a better and more equal America which is not only shared by many Black
Americans but by anyone who identifies with their fight against racial injustice, segregation, and
discrimination.

Nevertheless, in working from ‘I have a dream’ to a different four-word phrase, ‘this is our
hope’. The shift is natural and yet it is a rhetorical masterstroke, since the vision of a better
nation which King has set out as a very personal, sincere dream is thus telescoped into a
universal and collective struggle for freedom.

What’s more, in moving from ‘dream’ to a different noun, ‘hope’, King suggests that what might
be dismissed as an idealistic ambition is actually something that is both possible and achievable.
No sooner has the dream gathered momentum than it becomes a more concrete ‘hope’.

In his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, King was doing more than alluding to Abraham Lincoln’s signing
of the Emancipation Proclamation one hundred years earlier. The opening words to his speech,
‘Five score years ago’, allude to a specific speech Lincoln himself had made a century before:
the Gettysburg Address.

In that speech, delivered at the Soldiers’ National Cemetery (now known as Gettysburg National
Cemetery) in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in November 1863, Lincoln had urged his listeners to
continue in the fight for freedom, envisioning the day when all Americans – including Black
slaves – would be free. His speech famously begins with the words: ‘Four score and seven years
ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.’

‘Four score and seven years’ is eighty-seven years, which takes us back from 1863 to 1776, the
year of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. So, Martin Luther King’s allusion to the
words of Lincoln’s historic speech do two things: they call back to Lincoln’s speech but also, by
extension, to the founding of the United States almost two centuries before. Although Lincoln
and the American Civil War represented progress in the cause to make all Americans free

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regardless of their ethnicity, King makes it clear in ‘I Have a Dream’ that there is still some way
to go.

In the last analysis, King’s speech is a rhetorically clever and emotionally powerful call to use
non-violent protest to oppose racial injustice, segregation, and discrimination, but also to ensure
that all Americans are lifted out of poverty and degradation. But most of all, King emphasizes
the collective endeavour that is necessary to bring about the world he wants his children to live
in: the togetherness, the linking of hands, which is essential to make the dream a reality.

Detailed Analysis 

Part I

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 light of hope to
millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice.
[…]
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note in so far as her citizens of
color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro
people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”
The first lines of the speech contain King’s initial address to the audience, numerous metaphors,
allusions, and examples of repetition that bring in the most important themes of the speech,
justice, and freedom. He speaks about the “Constitution and the Declaration of Independence”
and the “architects of our republic” thought when they wrote them. They promised that “all
men” were “guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” 
In this line, it’s interesting to note the moment at which King pauses and says, “all men, yes,
black men as well as white men,” in order to confirm before anyone has a chance to second
guess him. These political documents gave men of all color the same rights. This is a great
example of a more colloquial moment in the speech.  There is a great example of a metaphor in
these lines at the end of this section. It reads: “America has given the Negro people a bad check,
a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”’ 

Part II 

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. And so we have come to cash
this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of
justice.
[…]
11
will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest
nor tranquility 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.
In this section of the speech, King uses some of the same examples of literary devices seen
above. This includes anaphora. It is seen through the use of “Now is the time” in paragraph
three. The repetition of this phrase is a call to action, inspiring the audience and reminding
anyone listening that “Now is the time” that the past ends and that a new future starts. The
image of “heat” comes into play with King using phrases like “This sweltering summer.” Other
natural images are also used, like “blow off steam,” “whirlwinds,” and “bright day.” These all
allude to what the next stage in American justice and freedom is going to look like. 

Part III

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the worn threshold which
leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty
of wrongful deeds.
[…]
There are those who are asking the devotees of Civil Rights, “When will you be satisfied?”

In the next lines of the speech, he reminds those listening, his “people,” that they must stay on
the correct path as they seek justice. It’s important that they do not “drink…from the cup of
bitterness and hatred” and instead “conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and
discipline.” These beautiful lines bring in the fact that there are many who support King’s desire
for a new world of freedom, black and white. Knowing how hard this fight is going to be, it’s
important that “We cannot walk alone,” King says. One of the most famous quotes from the
speech follows. 

Part IV

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; 
[…]
the sons of former slaveowners 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.

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The next lines are some of the most commonly quoted for the speech. King asks a question that
he proceeds to answer. When will they be satisfied? He determines that they won’t be satisfied
as long as “the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality” and “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.” He brings in several more phrases that
lay out the goals of his speech and the entire Civil Rights movement. In the brighter future, he
imagines, these are things that are no longer going to be a concern.
In another powerful part of the speech, King tells those listening to go home and not “wallow in
the valley of despair.” Instead, “Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is
redemptive.” He tells them to “Go” back to their respective states, Georgia, South Carolina, etc.

Part V 

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!
[…]
With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful
symphony of brother-hood. 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.

The next section contains the repetitions of “I have a dream,” truly the most famous section of
the speech. King emphasizes that he has a “dream” that the future is going to be different and
that one day his children “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their
character” and that “little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white
boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” These images of hope are juxtaposed with the
difficulty of the present moment. For example, with this description of the Governor of Alabama
and others in the state: “with its vicious racists, with its Governor having his lips dripping with
the words of interposition and nullification.” 

Part VI 
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 father died, land of the
pilgrim’s pride,
[…] 
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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In the final lines of the speech, King says that today is the day when “all of God’s children will be
able to sing with new meaning” when they sing the lines of the national anthem. He repeats “Let
freedom ring” in reference to various places around the country, uniting those listening in a
common goal and reminding the audience of his desire to have all of God’s children stand and
“join hands and sing.” The final line comes from “the old Negro spiritual” that encompasses the
passion of the Civil Rights movement: “Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free
at last.” 
Literary and Rhetorical Devices 
Throughout the speech, King uses numerous literary and rhetorical devices in order to deliver
the most effective speech possible. For example: 

 Ethos: used in an argument by appealing to the audience through the speaker’s

credibility. King, as a Black man living in the United States, and working within the Civil
Rights Movement, is in an ideal position in order to speak about what the contemporary
American experience is like. King also uses the other modes of persuasion, logos,
and pathos. Ethos is the credibility of the speaker. To establish ethos, a speaker must be
seen as an expert in the topic at hand or be someone who is trusted by the audience. King
was both an expert on civil rights and someone who was highly respected by the African
American community. This gave his speech a great deal of authority and made it more
persuasive.

Examples of Ethos in “I Have a Dream” Speech

“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.”

 Pathos
Pathos is the use of emotions to persuade an audience. King does an excellent job of using
pathos to appeal to his audience's emotions. For example, he talks about the dreams that
he has for his children and how he wants them to be judged by the content of their
character instead of the color of their skin. This is a powerful message that speaks to
people's hearts and motivates them to act.

Examples of Pathos in “I Have a Dream” Speech

“Five score years ago a great American in whose symbolic shadow we stand today signed
the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree is a great beacon light of hope it
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 their captivity. But 100 years later the Negro
still is not free.”
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 Logos
Logos is the use of logic and reason to persuade an audience. King uses logos throughout
his speech by providing evidence and reasoning for why civil rights are important. He also
uses analogy and metaphor to help illustrate his points. For instance, he compares Blacks
to "a nation of sheep" being led astray by a "jackass" (the White establishment). This
comparison helps to paint a picture in the minds of his listeners and makes his argument
more understandable.
Examples of Logos in “I Have a Dream” Speech
“The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us
to distrust 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 realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We
cannot walk alone.”
How Does Marti n Luther King Use Ethos in His Speech?
Martin Luther King uses ethos in his speech by discussing his credentials as a Baptist
minister and civil rights leader. He also talks about his experience with discrimination and
how he has seen the effects of segregation firsthand. By sharing his personal experiences,
he establishes himself as a credible source on the topic of civil rights.
In addition to discussing his own experiences, King also cites other sources to support his
argument. He talks about the Founding Fathers and how they “were signing a promissory
note to which every American was to fall heir.” He as well references the Emancipation
Proclamation and how it was a “great beacon light of hope” for African Americans.

How Does Marti n Luther King Use Pathos in His Speech?

Martin Luther King uses pathos in his speech by sharing the experiences of African
Americans who have faced discrimination and segregation. He talks about how African
Americans have been “seared in the flames of withering injustice” and how they are still
not free even 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. By sharing these powerful
stories, he elicits an emotional response from his audience and strengthens his argument
for civil rights.
King also uses analogy and metaphor to help illustrate his points. For instance, his
comparison of African Americans to “a nation of sheep” and the white establishment to
“jackass”. This comparison helps to paint a vivid picture of the situation and makes his
argument more relatable to his audience.

How Does Marti n Luther King Use Logos in His Speech?

Martin Luther King uses logos in his speech by citing statistics and historical events to
support his argument. He talks about how African Americans have been discriminated
against in housing, education, and employment. He also references the Constitution and
the Declaration of Independence to show how all men are supposed to be treated equally.
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 By using these facts and figures, he demonstrates that segregation is unjust and must be
abolished.
King also uses persuasive language throughout his speech. For example, he talks about
how African Americans “have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check” that was
written by the Founding Fathers. This analogy helps his audience understand that civil
rights are not just a Black issue, but an American issue. It is something that everyone
should be concerned about and working to fix.
When looking at how Martin Luther King uses rhetoric, we can see that he employs all
three of Aristotle's modes of persuasion: ethos, pathos, and logos. He establishes his
credibility as a leader early on in the speech, by talking about his experience with
discrimination and sharing his credentials as a Baptist minister. Throughout the speech, he
uses emotional language to connect with his audience and paint a picture of the struggles
that African Americans face. He also uses logic and reasoning to back up his argument, by
citing statistics and historical events.
The way he uses the three cornerstones of making a speech impactful will teach the
children the importance of rhetoric in public speaking. They can then use literary devices
in the “I Have a Dream” speech, get creative, and start to build up their own scenes, with
characters to bring to life the quotes from each section that they have chosen. This will
allow them to demonstrate to the high school ELA Common Core Standards that your
teaching methods and school are providing the children with the learning resources to
develop the ability to find, read, and comprehend complex informational texts.

 Anaphora: the use of the same word or words at the beginning of multiple lines, in
succession. Throughout the speech, King repeats “I have a dream” eight times,
successively, at the beginning of lines. “One hundred years later” is another example,
appearing at the beginning of numerous phrases early on in the speech. “Now is the
time,” “Go back to,” “With this faith,” and “We can never (or cannot) be satisfied” are all
other phrases that begin multiple lines.
 Allusion: throughout this piece, King alludes to prior American history, important political
moments, and contemporary events. The latter includes protests that he was famously a
part of. He uses phrases like “Five score years ago” as a reference to the Gettysburg
Address and “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” is an allusion to the Lincoln
Memorial. There are also biblical allusions scattered throughout the speech. Such as “It
came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity” which comes from
Psalms 30:5
 Repetition: in addition to examples of anaphora, there are other kinds of repetition in
King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech. For example, repeated phrases, references, and calls to
16
 action. He also repeats common themes. These include: freedom, justice, and the power
of dreams. 
 Imagery: another powerful rhetorical and literary device. It occurs when the speaker uses

phrases that appeal to and trigger the listener’s senses. For example, “slums and ghettos
of our northern cities,” a phrase that also alludes to the contemporary moment King is
living through. 
 Metaphor: A metaphor directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. Metaphors
create clarity by comparing something unfamiliar with something more familiar. If
someone has a ''rollercoaster of emotions'' they are not actually going up and down at a
fast pace, but knowing what a rollercoaster is like helps a reader to know that the person
is going through several emotions in a short range of time. If someone is an ''early bird,''
they are not actually a feathered avian, but like the birds that wake with the sun to sing,
that person also wakes early. Dr. King's speech is heavy with metaphor, which he uses to
create vivid imagery to make his ideas more compelling and to help listeners understand
his ideas. The use of metaphor also helps those who may be unfamiliar, such as his white
supporters, with his ideas or experiences to draw and make that connection.
Dr. King states, ''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.'' Here, ''desert state'' and ''oasis of freedom and justice'' act as
metaphors to create an understanding of the then-current struggles Black Americans were
suffering. Calling Mississippi a ''desert state'' implies that it is barren, lacking resources,
and difficult to survive in, as it is a state filled with injustice and oppression for the Black
American. An oasis in a desert is a place of refuge, where one can find resources like
water, food, and shelter from the hot sun. Dr. King made a statement that he hoped even
a state so full of oppression for the Black man will be able to move forward and legally
require freedom and justice to Black Americans. Just as the traveler in a desert seeks an
oasis, the oppressed seek freedom and justice.
Dr. King also uses the reference of light and shadows as a metaphor of the differences in
civil rights justice. He stated, ''Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of
segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.'' Here, Dr. King uses the metaphor of a
''dark and desolate valley'' to represent segregation. This creates a foreboding and
negative feeling towards segregation. It makes segregation feel dark and bad. On the
opposite end of his metaphorical mountain, Dr. King references a ''sunlit path'' to
represent true equality and racial justice. This metaphor creates an imagery of positive
feelings and of goodness.
Dr. King does much the same in another moment in his speech, once again using a
mountain valley in his metaphor: ''Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.'' This ''valley
of despair'' is, again, social inequality and segregation.

17
 In the second paragraph of the speech, King uses the phrase “joyous daybreak to end the
long night of their captivity.” Here, he’s connecting Black American’s social and political
restrictions and the racisms that still plagues the country to a “long night of captivity.”
When freedom is truly given to all people it will be a “joyous daybreak” and end to that
night.
 Alliteration: the use of the same consonant sounds at the beginning of words. For
example, King uses “trials and tribulations,” “dark and desolate,” “sweltering summer,”
and “marvelous new militancy.”  
 Personification is the act of giving humanlike characteristics and emotions to animals and
inanimate objects. Personification is used to create a more vivid understanding of an idea
and to create an emotional connection. When flowers dance in the wind, they are
personified. They are not dancing, just being blown about by the wind. When the sun
peeks out from behind the clouds, the sun is not actually looking around a cloud, you can
just see a portion of sun as the clouds move across the sky. Dr. King uses personification
multiple times throughout his speech. By doing so, he elicits an emotional response to
ideas such as discrimination, poverty, and the Declaration of Independence and,
emotionally charged, stirs them into action.
Dr. King stated, ''One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the
manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.'' In this line of his speech, Dr.
King personifies segregation as having manacles and discrimination as having chains. This
creates an emotional understanding that while Black Americans were no longer enslaved,
segregation and discrimination prevented true freedom and was simply another type of
bondage.
Dr. King continues, ''One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty
in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.'' Here, Dr. King personifies poverty as
being trapped on a lonely island. This use of personifying poverty helped his listeners to
understand exactly how segregation and discrimination negatively affected Black
Americans. It isolated them and prevented them from being financially free. Finally, Dr.
King states that when the founding fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence, it was
a ''promissory note to which every American was to fall heir'' but ''America has given the
Negro people a bad check.'' The personification of the Declaration of Independence as a
bad check creates the image of how Black Americans felt cheated and lied to, as
discrimination and segregation prevented their rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.

_________________________________________________________________________

18
 Speech Critique – I Have a Dream – Martin Luther King
Jr.
Much of the greatness of this speech is tied to its historical context, a topic which goes beyond the scope of
this article.

Let’s focus on five key lessons in speechwriting that we can extract from Martin Luther King’s most famous
speech.

1. Emphasize phrases by repeating at the beginning of sentences

2. Repeat key “theme” words throughout your speech

3. Utilize appropriate quotations or allusions

4. Use specific examples to “ground” your arguments

5. Use metaphors to highlight contrasting concepts

Lesson #1: Emphasize Phrases by Repeating at the Beginning of

Sentences
Anaphora (repeating words at the beginning of neighbouring clauses) is a commonly used rhetorical device.
Repeating the words twice sets the pattern, and further repetitions emphasize the pattern and increase the
rhetorical effect.
“I have a dream” is repeated in eight successive sentences, and is one of the most often cited examples of
anaphora in modern rhetoric. But this is just one of eight occurrences of anaphora in this speech. By order
of introduction, here are the key phrases:
 “One hundred years later…” [paragraph 3]
 “Now is the time…” [paragraph 6]
 “We must…” [paragraph 8]
 “We can never (cannot) be satisfied…” [paragraph 13]
 “Go back to…” [paragraph 14]
 “I Have a Dream…” [paragraphs 16 through 24]
 “With this faith, …” [paragraph 26]
 “Let freedom ring (from) …” [paragraphs 27 through 41]
Read those repeated phrases in sequence. Even in the absence of the remainder of the speech, these
key phrases tell much of King’s story. Emphasis through repetition makes these phrases more memorable,
and, by extension, make King’s story more memorable.

19
 Lesson #2: Repeat Key “Theme” Words Throughout Your Speech
Repetition in forms like anaphora is quite obvious, but there are more subtle ways to use repetition as well.
One way is to repeat key “theme” words throughout the body of your speech.
If you count the frequency of words used in King’s “I Have a Dream”, very interesting patterns emerge. The
most commonly used noun is freedom, which is used twenty times in the speech. This makes sense, since
freedom is one of the primary themes of the speech.

Other key themes? Consider these commonly repeated words:

 freedom (20 times)

 we (30 times), our (17 times), you (8 times)

 nation (10 times), america (5 times), american (4 times)

 justice (8 times) and injustice (3 times)

 dream (11 times)

“I Have a Dream” can be summarized in the view below, which associates the size of the word with its
frequency.

Lesson #3: Utilize Appropriate Quotations or Allusions

Evoking historic and literary references is a powerful speechwriting technique which can be executed
explicitly (a direct quotation) or implicitly (allusion).

You can improve the credibility of your arguments by referring to the (appropriate) words of credible
speakers/writers in your speech. Consider the allusions used by Martin Luther King Jr.:

 “Five score years ago…” [paragraph 2] refers to Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address speech which
began “Four score and seven years ago…” This allusion is particularly poignant given that King was
speaking in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

20
 “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” [and the rest of paragraph 4] is a reference to the United
States Declaration of Independence.
 Numerous Biblical allusions provide the moral basis for King’s arguments:

 “It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.” [paragraph 2] alludes to
Psalms 30:5 “For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for
the night, but joy comes with the morning.“
 “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and
hatred.” [paragraph 8] evokes Jeremiah 2:13 “for my people have committed two evils: they have
forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns
that can hold no water.“

Lesson #4: Use specific examples to “ground” your arguments

Your speech is greatly improved when you provide specific examples which illustrate your logical (and
perhaps theoretical) arguments.

One way that Martin Luther King Jr. accomplishes this is to make numerous geographic references
throughout the speech:

 Mississippi, New York [paragraph 13]

 Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana [14]

 Georgia [18]

 Mississippi [19]

 Alabama [22]

 New Hampshire [32], New York [33], Pennsylvania [34], Colorado [35], California [36], Georgia [37],
Tennessee [38], Mississippi [39]

Note that Mississippi is mentioned on four separate occasions. This is not accidental; mentioning Mississippi
would evoke some of the strongest emotions and images for his audience.

Additionally, King uses relatively generic geographic references to make his message more inclusive:

 “slums and ghettos of our northern cities” [paragraph 14]

 “the South” [25]
 “From every mountainside” [40]
 “from every village and every hamlet” [41]

Lesson #5: Use Metaphors to Highlight Contrasting Concepts

Metaphors allow you to associate your speech concepts with concrete images and emotions.
21
 To highlight the contrast between two abstract concepts, consider associating them with contrasting
concrete metaphors. For example, to contrast segregation with racial justice, King evokes the contrasting
metaphors of dark and desolate valley (of segregation) and sunlit path (of racial justice.)

 “joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity” [paragraph 2]

 “the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity” [3]
 “rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice” [6]
 “This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is
an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.” [7]
 “sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.” [19]
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Metaphors of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” Speech

Dr. King was not only academically trained – he earned a Ph.D. in theology from Boston University – he was also
a Baptist minister.  His education, along with his skills as a preacher, helped him become one of the most gifted
orators of modern times.   He was also a master of using metaphors to make a point in his speeches.  The “I Have
a Dream” speech is a “goldmine” of metaphors.  I will break down some of his most important metaphors into
semantic categories such as banking, food and drink, buildings, music and nature.  I will highlight the metaphors
with boldface and italic type.

Banking
One of the most explicit metaphors he uses to make his point about the lack of civil rights is a banking
metaphor.  He suggests that the thousands of marchers have come to Washington to cash a check  while he
claims that the government has given the people of color a check with insufficient funds, or a promissory
note that no one has paid.

An actual check made out to Thomas Jefferson…

“It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are
concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which
has come back marked “insufficient funds.””

Food and Drink

We are all familiar with the experience of eating and drinking.  Dr. King uses metaphors of drinking in several
instances to correlate drinking a liquid to drinking attitudes or opinions.  Dr. King suggests:
“Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.”
Later he uses a complex metaphor comparing a liquid to political actions, speaking of George Wallace, the
governor of Alabama at the time who was a strong proponent of segregation.

22
“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.”

Buildings
The idea of entering a building is used metaphorically to indicate progress being made toward a certain goal.  
We often speak of having doors of opportunities or crossing a threshold to reach a new goal.  Dr. King uses both
of these metaphors to describe the work necessary to make progress on civil rights in the United States.  Dr. King
also makes a comparison of the differences in civil rights to the differences of a normal house compared to a
palace.
“Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God’s children.”
“But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into
the palace of justice.”

Nature
By far the most common metaphors used in the speech are those of nature.  Dr. King uses metaphors of
mountains, valleys, deserts, oases, stones, solid rocks, quicksand, islands, oceans, waters, streams, wind,
whirlwinds, and storms.
Dr. King describes an America almost 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation:
“One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material
prosperity.”
He compares the differences in civil rights to the differences in light and shadows between a valley and a
mountaintop.
“Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.”
“Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.”
“Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.”
In another visually powerful metaphor, he compares injustice to being a desert while justice is an oasis of water.
“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.”
He also describes justice as being solid rock while injustice is quicksand.
“Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.”
In a very powerful metaphor, he describes justice as water in a mighty river.
“We can never 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.”
He offers his support for the thousands of marchers who experienced discrimination first hand in their own lives
by comparing this discrimination to strong windstorms.
“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.”
Dr. King also uses contrasts from nature based on light and dark and different seasons of the year.
“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.”
“This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is
an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.”

23
Music and Sounds
The final set of metaphors that Dr. King uses in the speech is related to music and sounds.  After spending most
of the speech using visual metaphors, he adds a few based on auditory metaphors of sounds and music.
“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.”
More importantly, he finishes the speech with a powerful metaphor of a bell ringing, borrowing a phrase, “let
freedom ring” from the national song, “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.”  We normally associate the ringing of bells with
churches, but they have also been used historically in towns to signal emergencies or celebrations. In the song,
and in Dr. King’s speech, the ringing of the bells is meant to signify the echoing of the sounds all across the
country. In a rhetorical style common to Baptist preaching, he repeats the phrase many times for effect, in fact, a
total of twelve times.
“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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