Martin Luther King gave his “I have a dream” speech 62 years ago

Published at: 28/08/2025 08:35 AM

On August 28, 1963, in front of the Abraham Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, during a historic demonstration of more than 200,000 people in favor of civil rights for blacks in the United States, Martin Luther King made a speech that does not forget humanity for the liberation of Afro-descendant citizens.

62 years after this event, here is his speech:

I am proud to meet with you today, in what will be the largest demonstration for freedom in the history of our country in history.

One hundred years ago, a great American, whose symbolic shadow shelters us today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree was like a great ray of light and hope for millions of black slaves, scorched in the flames of withered injustice. It came like a beautiful sunrise at the end of a long night of captivity. But, one hundred years later, black people are still not free; one hundred years later, black people's lives are still sadly lacerated by the wives of segregation and the chains of discrimination; one hundred years later, blacks live on a lonely island in the midst of an immense ocean of material prosperity; a hundred years later, blacks are still languishing in the corners of American society and are banished in their own land.

Therefore, today we have come here to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense, we have come to the capital of our country, to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they signed a promissory note to which every American should be an heir. This document was the promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights to life, freedom and the pursuit of happiness.

It's obvious today that the United States has defaulted on that promissory note as far as its black citizens are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, the United States has given blacks an unfunded check; a check that has been returned with the seal of “insufficient funds”. But we refuse to believe that the Bank of Justice has gone bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are not enough funds in this country's great vaults of opportunity. That is why we have come to collect this check; the check that will shower us with the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this sacred place, to remind the United States of America of the impetuous urgency of now. This is not the time to have the luxury of cooling down or taking gradualist tranquilizers. Now is the time to make the promises of democracy a reality. Now is the time to move out of the dark and desolate valley of segregation onto the sunny path of racial justice. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our country from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to ignore the urgency of the moment and not give importance to the decision of blacks. This summer, scorched by the legitimate discontent of black people, will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.

1963 is not an end, but the beginning. And those who were hoping that black people needed to let off steam and will already feel happy, will have a rude awakening if the country returns to the same old way. There will be neither rest nor peace of mind in the United States until blacks are guaranteed their citizenship rights. The swirls of rebellion will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the glorious day of justice emerges. But there is something I must say to my people waiting on the warm threshold that leads to the courthouse. We must avoid committing unjust acts in the process of obtaining our rightful place. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hate. We must forever lead our struggle along the high road of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Time and again we must rise to the majestic heights where physical strength meets the strength of the soul. The wonderful new militancy that has enveloped the black community must not lead us to distrust all white people, because many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to understand that their destiny is linked to ours and their freedom is inextricably linked to ours. We can't walk alone. And as we speak, we must make the promise to always march forward. We can't go back.

Some people ask civil rights supporters, “When will they be satisfied?”

We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, tired from traveling so much, cannot be accommodated in motels on the roads and in hotels in cities. We cannot be satisfied, as long as black people can only move from a small ghetto to a larger ghetto. We can never be satisfied, as long as a black person from Mississippi cannot vote and a black person from New York believes that there is no reason to vote. No, no; we are not satisfied and will not be satisfied until “justice rolls like water and righteousness like a mighty current”.

I know that some of you have come here because of great trials and tribulations. Some have arrived fresh out of cramped cells. Some of you have come from places where, in your quest for freedom, you have been hit by the storms of persecution and torn down by the winds of police brutality. You are the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the conviction that suffering that is not deserved is emancipating.

Return to Mississippi, return to Alabama, return to Georgia, return to Louisiana, return to the slums and ghettos of our Northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let's not wallow in the valley of despair.

Today I tell you, my friends, that despite the difficulties of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the “American” dream.

I dream that one day this nation will rise up and live the true meaning of its creed: “We affirm that these truths are self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

I dream that one day, in the red hills of Georgia, the children of former slaves and the children of former slave owners can sit together at the table of brotherhood.

I dream that one day, even the state of Mississippi, a state suffocated by the heat of injustice and oppression, will become an oasis of freedom and justice.

I dream that my four children will one day live in a country where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by their personality traits.

Today I have a dream!

I dream that one day, the state of Alabama whose governor spits phrases of interposition between races and the annulment of blacks, will become a place where black boys and girls can join hands with those of white boys and girls and walk together, as brothers and sisters.

Today I have a dream!

I dream that someday the valleys will be peaks, and the hills and mountains will be flat, the steepest places will be leveled and the crooked will be straightened, and the glory of God will be revealed, and the entire human race will be united.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith, we can carve out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we can transform the discordant sound of our nation into a beautiful symphony of fraternity. With this faith we can work together, pray together, fight together, go to jail together, defend freedom together, knowing that one day we will be free.

That will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing the hymn with a new meaning, “My country is yours. Sweet land of freedom, I sing to you. A land of freedom where my ancestors died, a land of pride for pilgrims, on every side of the mountain, may freedom ring.” And if America is to be great, this will have to come true.

So let freedom ring from the top of New Hampshire's prodigious mountains! Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York! Let freedom ring from the heights of the Pennsylvania Alleghenies! Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies in Colorado! Let freedom ring from the sinuous slopes of California! But not only that:! Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain in Georgia! Let freedom ring from Tennessee's Lookout Mountain! Let freedom ring from every small hill and mountain in Mississippi! “On every side of the mountain, may freedom ring.”

When freedom rings and we let it ring out in every village and in every hamlet, in every state and in every city, we can accelerate the arrival of the day when all of God's children, black and white, Jewish and Christian, Protestant and Catholic, can join hands and sing the words of the old black spiritual: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

Mazo News Team