08/29/2017
Martin Luther King Jr. (1963)--Today, before a crowd of 250,000, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., I was privileged to give the last speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The others who gave speeches and I agreed to try to keep our audiences calm. With the statue of Abraham Lincoln as a backdrop, we wanted to show that there was strong support for President Kennedy’s civil rights legislation.
With so much to do to arrange the march, I had little time to prepare my remarks. As I delivered the speech, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson cried out, “Tell them about the dream, Martin.” In response, I left my prepared speech and began what people are calling the “I Have a Dream” speech.
Like prophets of the old testament, I compelled the audience, “… now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.”
Calling upon the country to unify, among other things, I told the audience of both blacks and whites, “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!”
The crowd was amazing today, without a single arrest. It is my hope that my speech will play a part in passing Kennedy’s legislation and in uniting blacks and whites together.