Martin Luther King, Jr.
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 slaveowners 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.
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. This is the faith with
which I return to the South. 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 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.
When we let 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 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!"
"Created by Midwest University Center for Diversity"
