[00:01.030]I am happy to join with you today
[00:05.730]in what will go down in history
[00:09.560]as the greatest demonstration for
[00:13.980]freedom in the history of our nation
[00:18.650]Five score years ago a great American
[00:32.580]in whose symbolic shadow we stand
[00:35.090]today signed the Emancipation Proclamation
[00:39.940]This momentous decree came as a great
[00:48.000]beacon light of hope to millions of
[00:50.440]Negro slaves who had been seared
[00:55.170]in the flames of withering injustice
[00:56.430]It came as a
[01:00.730]joyous daybreak to end the long night
[01:04.850]of their captivity
[01:05.920]But one hundred years later the
[01:11.290]Negro still is not free
[01:16.830]One hundred years later
[01:24.850]the life of the Negro is still sadly
[01:27.370]crippled by the manacles of segregation
[01:30.420]and the chains of discrimination
[01:33.080]One hundred years later
[01:35.830]the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty
[01:41.460]in the midst of a vast
[01:44.700]ocean of material prosperity
[01:46.930]One hundred years later
[01:48.910]the Negro is still languished in the
[01:56.850]corners of American society
[01:58.900]and finds himself an exile in his own land
[02:03.180]And so we've come
[02:06.250]here today to dramatize a shameful condition
[02:09.860]In a sense we've come to our nation's capital
[02:14.920]to cash a check When the architects of our
[02:21.300]republic wrote the magnificent words
[02:24.440]of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence
[02:27.880]they were signing a promissory note
[02:33.080]to which every American was to fall heir
[02:37.320]This note was a promise that all men
[02:41.160]yes black men as well as white men
[02:46.390]would be guaranteed the
[02:48.350]unalienable Rights of Life Liberty
[02:50.860]and the pursuit of Happiness
[02:54.420]It is obvious today that
[02:58.130]America has defaulted on this promissory note
[03:03.100]insofar as her citizens of color are concerned
[03:07.060]Instead of honoring this sacred obligation
[03:12.500]America has given the Negro people a bad check
[03:17.850]a check which has come back marked insufficient funds
[03:23.010]But we refuse to believe that
[03:36.650]the bank of justice is bankrupt
[03:39.700]We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds
[03:46.470]in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation
[03:49.330]And so we've come to cash this check a check
[03:52.890]that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom
[03:55.660]and the security of justice
[03:59.130]We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America
[04:14.720]of the fierce urgency of Now
[04:17.840]This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off
[04:26.680]or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism
[04:30.030]Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy
[04:39.910]Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate
[04:46.840]valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice
[04:52.180]Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands
[04:59.050]of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood
[05:03.180]Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children
[05:10.950]It would be fatal for the nation to overlook
[05:15.070]the urgency of the moment
[05:19.420]This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent
[05:24.260]will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn
[05:29.960]of freedom and equality Nineteen sixtythree
[05:34.050]is not an end but a beginning
[05:37.030]And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam
[05:41.480]and will now be content will have a rude
[05:46.910]awakening if the nation returns to business as usual
[05:49.640]And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America
[06:09.280]until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights
[06:13.410]The whirlwinds(旋风） of revolt(反抗)
[06:17.440]will continue to shake the foundations of our nation
[06:20.600]until the bright day of justice emerges
[06:22.640]But there is something that I must say to my people
[06:27.280]who stand on the warm threshold which
[06:30.770]leads into the palace of justice
[06:32.990]In the process of gaining our rightful place
[06:38.200]we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds
[06:42.740]Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom
[06:48.310]by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred
[06:52.130]We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of
[07:05.550]dignity and discipline
[07:07.630]We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence
[07:13.080]Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting
[07:19.900]physical force with soul force
[07:23.280]The marvelous new militancy
[07:26.040]which has engulfed the Negro community
[07:29.420]must not lead us to a distrust of all white people
[07:33.710]for many of our white brothers as evidenced by their presence
[07:38.110]here today have come to realize that
[07:40.760]their destiny is tied up with our destiny And they have
[07:56.770]come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom
[07:59.930]We cannot walk alone
[08:01.010]And as we walk we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead
[08:08.360]We cannot turn back
[08:10.370]There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights
[08:18.050]When will you be satisfied
[08:21.020]We can never be satisfied
[08:24.290]as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality
[08:29.820]We can never be satisfied
[08:32.750]as long as our bodies heavy with the fatigue of travel
[08:38.090]cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways
[08:42.900]and the hotels of the cities
[08:44.460]We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility
[08:56.220]is from a smaller ghetto to a
[08:58.350]larger one We can never be satisfied as long as our children
[09:01.880]are stripped of their selfhood
[09:03.040]and robbed of their dignity by a sign stating
[09:05.010]For Whites Only We cannot be satisfied as
[09:06.850]long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote
[09:08.140]and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing
[09:10.260]for which to vote
[09:11.150]No no we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied
[09:14.130]until justice rolls
[09:16.110]down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream 1
[09:28.900]
[09:29.900]I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials
[09:38.040]and tribulations
[09:40.420]Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells
[09:45.230]And some of you have come from areas
[09:49.180]where your quest quest
[09:50.970]for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and
[09:55.570]staggered by the winds of police brutality
[09:58.810]You have been the veterans of creative suffering
[10:03.760]Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive
[10:11.100]Go back to Mississippi
[10:15.230]go back to Alabama go back to South Carolina
[10:20.470]go back to Georgia go back to Louisiana go
[10:23.660]back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities
[10:28.630]knowing that somehow this situation can
[10:31.760]and will be changed
[10:32.760]Let us not wallow in the valley of despair
[10:37.980]I say to you today my friends
[10:40.540]And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow
[10:54.150]I still have a dream
[10:59.450]It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream
[11:03.810]I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up
[11:13.220]and live out the true meaning of its creed
[11:19.930]We hold these truths to be selfevident
[11:22.370]that all men are created equal
[11:24.010]I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia
[11:39.180]the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners
[11:44.620]will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood
[11:50.180]I have a dream that one day
[11:54.750]even the state of Mississippi
[11:57.840]a state sweltering with the heat of injustice
[12:00.700]sweltering with the heat of oppression
[12:07.690]will be transformed into an oasis of freedom
[12:11.570]I have a dream
[12:14.500]that my four little children
[12:19.160]will one day live in a nation
[12:22.580]where they will not be and justice
[12:24.660]judged by the color of their skin
[12:26.510]but by the content of their character
[12:27.890]I have a dream today!
[12:29.170]I have a dream that one day
[12:40.880]down in Alabama with its vicious racists
[12:46.870]with its governor having his lips
[12:53.370]dripping with the words of interposition and nullification
[12:55.200]one day right there in Alabama
[12:57.550]little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white
[13:02.730]boys and white girls as sisters and brothers
[13:05.320]I have a dream today!I have a dream that one day
[13:18.090]every valley shall be exalted and every hill and mountain shall
[13:22.230]be made low the rough places will be made plain
[13:25.130]and the crooked places will be made
[13:26.470]straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed
[13:29.340]and all flesh shall see it together 2
[13:33.140]This is our hope and this is the faith that I go back to the South with
[13:38.990]With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair
[13:43.040]a stone of hope
[13:44.980]With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords
[13:50.990]of our nation into a beautiful
[13:53.310]symphony of brotherhood
[13:55.200]With this faith we will be able to work together to pray together
[13:59.240]to struggle together to go to jail together
[14:03.730]to stand up for freedom together knowing that we
[14:06.470]will be free one day
[14:10.530]And this will be the day this
[14:14.040]will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing
[14:19.210]with new meaning
[14:20.150]My country 'tis of thee sweet land of liberty of thee I sing
[14:26.350]Land where my fathers died land of the Pilgrim's pride
[14:29.930]From every mountainside let freedom ring!
[14:34.740]And if America is to be a great nation
[14:37.670]this must become true
[14:38.690]And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire
[14:45.000]Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York
[14:48.680]Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of
[14:52.550]Pennsylvania
[14:53.430]Let freedom ring from the snowcapped
[14:56.760]Rockies of Colorado
[14:57.890]Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California
[15:03.780]But not only that
[15:06.470]Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia
[15:08.400]Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee
[15:12.510]Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi
[15:19.300]From every mountainside let freedom ring And when this happens
[15:25.570]when we allow freedom ring when we let it ring from every village
[15:33.860]and every hamlet from every state and every city
[15:38.520]we will be able to speed up that day when
[15:42.730]all of God's children black men and white men
[15:46.920]Jews and Gentiles Protestants and Catholics
[15:49.590]will be able to join hands and sing in the words
[15:53.310]of the old Negro spiritual
[15:54.240]Free at last! Free at last!
[15:56.810]Thank God Almighty we are free at last!3