Listen to the speech and fill in the blanks!
Martin Luther King, Jr.
"I Have a Dream"
delivered August 28th,�1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.
�
I am happy to join with you today in what will as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose we stand today, signed the . This came as a great� of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been� in the flames of� injustice. It came as a� to end the long night of their .
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly� by the� of� and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of� in the� of a� ocean of . One hundred years later, the Negro is still� 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 . When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a� to which every American was . This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "" of "Life, Liberty and the ." It is obvious today that America has� on this promissory note,� as� are concerned. Instead of honoring this , America has given the Negro people a , a check which has come back marked "."
But we refuse to believe that the� is . We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great� 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� spot to remind America of the�� of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the� drug of . Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and� valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands 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� for the nation to� the urgency of the moment. This� summer of the Negro's� will not pass until there is an� autumn of freedom and . Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to� and will now be� will have a� if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor� in America until the Negro is� his . The� of� will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice .
But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm� which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of� our rightful place, we must not be guilty of . Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and . We must forever� our struggle on the high plane of� and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the .
The� new� which has� the Negro community must not lead us to a� of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as� by their� 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� to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the� that we shall always march ahead.
We cannot turn back.
There are those who are asking the� 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 , cannot�� in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's� is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their� and robbed of their� by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot� 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 "."
I am not� that some of you have come here out of . Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your� -- quest for freedom left you� by the storms of� and� by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that� is . 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� in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
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.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its : "We hold these truths to be , 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� with the heat of , sweltering with the heat of , 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 "" and "" -- 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 , and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made , and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be� and� shall see it together."
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� of the mountain of� a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the�� 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.
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 , 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�� of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the�� of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the�� 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� 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 , 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 , Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old :
��������������� Free at last! Free at last!
��������������� Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!
