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 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 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!"