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A newspaper in education Supplement to THE WASHINGTON TIMES
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WEDNESDAY • AUGUST 28 • 2013
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. gave the final
speech. His "I have a dream" speech was full of
hope, determination and purpose. It brought the
quarter of a million people at the march to a fever
pitch of excitement, and to tears.
Immediately following the march, the top 10
speakers met with President Kennedy. The march
was successful beyond their wildest dreams and
they used its power to push for a stronger civil
rights bill.
Kennedy said of the march: “One cannot help
but be impressed with the deep fervor and the
quiet dignity that characterized the thousands
who have gathered in the nation’s capital from
across the country to demonstrate their faith and
confidence in our democratic form of govern-
ment…”
News of the peaceful, powerful march, and the
words of the speakers, spread across the nation
and the world. The march delivered a blow to
segregation and the old order in the South from
which it would never recover.
Resource:
The Our Documents site of the
National Archives includes the official March on
Washington program available at
.
"I Have a Dream"
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his historic "I
Have a Dream" speech in front of hundreds of thousands of
participants at the "March on Washington." At the end of
his speech, he preached these words about his dream for
America. Full text at:
I say to you today, my friends, 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, 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 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 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. 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 snowcapped 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, 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!"
