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.
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.
This will be the day when all of God's children
will be able to sing with new meaning,
my country, tears of thee.
Sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died,
land of the pilgrims' 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 snow-capped 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 mole hill 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.