I HAVE A DREAM

I say to you today my friends , 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 : " 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 .

I have a dream that one day, right there in Alabama, little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and little white girls as sisters and brothers . 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 , 'tis of thee ,

Sweet land of liberty ,

Of thee I sing :

Land where my fathers died

Land of the Pilgrims' pride ,

From every mountain side

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 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 molehill of Mississippi !

From every mountain side, 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 negro spiritual ,

" Free at last ! Free at last !

Thank God Almighty , we are free at last ! "

MARTIN LUTHER KING , Jr

August 28 , 1963 .