i have a dream speech reaction paper

I Have A Dream Reaction Paper

Reflection Paper about the speech of Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have a Dream” delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D. C. I Have a Dream is extremely emotional, a hopeful vision of the future of race in this country. King recognized that the March, with an attending crowd of over 200,000 as well as a national television audience, would be the perfect opportunity to gain support for the civil rights movement.

He intended to persuade his audience of the justice of the cause, encourage them to not abandon hope, and warn them that in the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of illegal deeds, declaring his belief that nothing positive is accomplished through violence King.

He designed his speech with those goals in mind. King’s understanding of the size and composition of his audience determined the rhetorical choices he made while composing his speech.

It is important to understand that while hoping to influence the attitudes of an entire nation, King was primarily addressing a black audience.

He spoke of generations of injustice, and referring to the recent increase in violence, stressed the importance of remaining non-violent. He warned against an attitude of distrust toward “our white brothers” who “have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom as evidenced by their presence here today. He is obviously speaking directly to black Americans. Because of this focus, King made rhetorical choices he knew would be familiar to a black audience with a shared cultural background.

Proficient in: Dream

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Those choices have proven powerful to people of all races, but they were selected with a black American audience in mind. The reasons for King’s rhetorical choices are frequently attributed to their special impact on black Americans, but it should be worried that the effectiveness of these choices crossed all racial boundaries.

Where Was The I Have A Dream Speech Delivered

King knew an emotional speech would have greater impact upon a large, outdoor crowd. He presented a beautiful and compelling vision of equality that inspired the crowd, expanded his national audience and ensured their attention to future messages. He wanted to reach the masses and did so. To inspire the crowd, to instill his speech with an emotional and spiritual quality, King utilized the delivery style of the black folk pulpit of which he was master. King, a master stylist, used a variety of rhetorical techniques in his speech. I Have a Dream” needed to touch a wide range of people: people from different geographical locations, with different education backgrounds, of different color. King anticipated the importance of the March, knew he had a real opportunity to be heard by millions. He recognized the difficult demographics of the situation. The audience would be enormous and distractions would be inevitable in the wide open outdoor location. He also understood that the patience of black Americans was too sorely tried: black Americans would no longer be pacified with mere promises.

And while understanding their frustration, King passionately wanted to convince the crowd to pursue their cause without violence. Because he understood of all of this, King chose not to focus on detail, not to focus on strategy. He appealed to the crowd’s higher emotions of spirituality and patriotism. God was on their side, their struggle would be rewarded. Currently, “I Have a Dream” is still considered a deep work studied in both literature and speech classes. “I Have a Dream” is a masterpiece which describes, with wisdom and compassion, a people’s long struggle for equality.

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I have a dream - summery and reaction paper

A Summary and Analysis of Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘I Have a Dream’ is one of the greatest speeches in American history. Delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-68) in Washington D.C. in 1963, the speech is a powerful rallying cry for racial equality and for a fairer and equal world in which African Americans will be as free as white Americans.

If you’ve ever stayed up till the small hours working on a presentation you’re due to give the next day, tearing your hair out as you try to find the right words, you can take solace in the fact that as great an orator as Martin Luther King did the same with one of the most memorable speeches ever delivered.

He reportedly stayed up until 4am the night before he was due to give his ‘I Have a Dream’, writing it out in longhand. You can read the speech in full here .

‘I Have a Dream’: background

The occasion for King’s speech was the march on Washington , which saw some 210,000 African American men, women, and children gather at the Washington Monument in August 1963, before marching to the Lincoln Memorial.

They were marching for several reasons, including jobs (many of them were out of work), but the main reason was freedom: King and many other Civil Rights leaders sought to remove segregation of black and white Americans and to ensure black Americans were treated the same as white Americans.

1963 was the centenary of the Emancipation Proclamation , in which then US President Abraham Lincoln (1809-65) had freed the African slaves in the United States in 1863. But a century on from the abolition of slavery, King points out, black Americans still are not free in many respects.

‘I Have a Dream’: summary

King begins his speech by reminding his audience that it’s a century, or ‘five score years’, since that ‘great American’ Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This ensured the freedom of the African slaves, but Black Americans are still not free, King points out, because of racial segregation and discrimination.

America is a wealthy country, and yet many Black Americans live in poverty. It is as if the Black American is an exile in his own land. King likens the gathering in Washington to cashing a cheque: in other words, claiming money that is due to be paid.

Next, King praises the ‘magnificent words’ of the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence . King compares these documents to a promissory note, because they contain the promise that all men, including Black men, will be guaranteed what the Declaration of Independence calls ‘inalienable rights’: namely, ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’.

King asserts that America in the 1960s has ‘defaulted’ on this promissory note: in other words, it has refused to pay up. King calls it a ‘sacred obligation’, but America as a nation is like someone who has written someone else a cheque that has bounced and the money owed remains to be paid. But it is not because the money isn’t there: America, being a land of opportunity, has enough ‘funds’ to ensure everyone is prosperous enough.

King urges America to rise out of the ‘valley’ of segregation to the ‘sunlit path of racial justice’. He uses the word ‘brotherhood’ to refer to all Americans, since all men and women are God’s children. He also repeatedly emphasises the urgency of the moment. This is not some brief moment of anger but a necessary new start for America. However, King cautions his audience not to give way to bitterness and hatred, but to fight for justice in the right manner, with dignity and discipline.

Physical violence and militancy are to be avoided. King recognises that many white Americans who are also poor and marginalised feel a kinship with the Civil Rights movement, so all Americans should join together in the cause. Police brutality against Black Americans must be eradicated, as must racial discrimination in hotels and restaurants. States which forbid Black Americans from voting must change their laws.

Martin Luther King then comes to the most famous part of his speech, in which he uses the phrase ‘I have a dream’ to begin successive sentences (a rhetorical device known as anaphora ). King outlines the form that his dream, or ambition or wish for a better America, takes.

His dream, he tells his audience, is ‘deeply rooted’ in the American Dream: that notion that anybody, regardless of their background, can become prosperous and successful in the United States. King once again reminds his listeners of the opening words of the Declaration of Independence: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’

In his dream of a better future, King sees the descendants of former Black slaves and the descendants of former slave owners united, sitting and eating together. He has a dream that one day his children will live in a country where they are judged not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.

Even in Mississippi and Alabama, states which are riven by racial injustice and hatred, people of all races will live together in harmony. King then broadens his dream out into ‘our hope’: a collective aspiration and endeavour. King then quotes the patriotic American song ‘ My Country, ’Tis of Thee ’, which describes America as a ‘sweet land of liberty’.

King uses anaphora again, repeating the phrase ‘let freedom ring’ several times in succession to suggest how jubilant America will be on the day that such freedoms are ensured. And when this happens, Americans will be able to join together and be closer to the day when they can sing a traditional African-American hymn : ‘Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.’

‘I Have a Dream’: analysis

Although Martin Luther King’s speech has become known by the repeated four-word phrase ‘I Have a Dream’, which emphasises the personal nature of his vision, his speech is actually about a collective dream for a better and more equal America which is not only shared by many Black Americans but by anyone who identifies with their fight against racial injustice, segregation, and discrimination.

Nevertheless, in working from ‘I have a dream’ to a different four-word phrase, ‘this is our hope’. The shift is natural and yet it is a rhetorical masterstroke, since the vision of a better nation which King has set out as a very personal, sincere dream is thus telescoped into a universal and collective struggle for freedom.

What’s more, in moving from ‘dream’ to a different noun, ‘hope’, King suggests that what might be dismissed as an idealistic ambition is actually something that is both possible and achievable. No sooner has the dream gathered momentum than it becomes a more concrete ‘hope’.

In his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, King was doing more than alluding to Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation one hundred years earlier. The opening words to his speech, ‘Five score years ago’, allude to a specific speech Lincoln himself had made a century before: the Gettysburg Address .

In that speech, delivered at the Soldiers’ National Cemetery (now known as Gettysburg National Cemetery) in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in November 1863, Lincoln had urged his listeners to continue in the fight for freedom, envisioning the day when all Americans – including Black slaves – would be free. His speech famously begins with the words: ‘Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.’

‘Four score and seven years’ is eighty-seven years, which takes us back from 1863 to 1776, the year of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. So, Martin Luther King’s allusion to the words of Lincoln’s historic speech do two things: they call back to Lincoln’s speech but also, by extension, to the founding of the United States almost two centuries before. Although Lincoln and the American Civil War represented progress in the cause to make all Americans free regardless of their ethnicity, King makes it clear in ‘I Have a Dream’ that there is still some way to go.

In the last analysis, King’s speech is a rhetorically clever and emotionally powerful call to use non-violent protest to oppose racial injustice, segregation, and discrimination, but also to ensure that all Americans are lifted out of poverty and degradation.

But most of all, King emphasises the collective endeavour that is necessary to bring about the world he wants his children to live in: the togetherness, the linking of hands, which is essential to make the dream a reality.

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Speech Analysis: I Have a Dream – Martin Luther King Jr.

“I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most memorable speeches of all time.

It is worthy of lengthy study as we can all learn speechwriting skills from King’s historic masterpiece.

This article is the latest in a series of video speech critiques which help you analyze and learn from excellent speeches.

Speech Video: Martin Luther King Jr. delivers “I Have a Dream”

I encourage you to:

• Watch the video;
• Read the analysis in this speech critique;
• Study the speech text in the complete transcript; and
• Share your thoughts on this presentation.

Speech Critique – I Have a Dream – Martin Luther King Jr.

Much of the greatness of this speech is tied to its historical context, a topic which goes beyond the scope of this article.

Instead, I’ll focus on five key lessons in speechwriting that we can extract from Martin Luther King’s most famous speech.

• Emphasize phrases by repeating at the beginning of sentences
• Repeat key “theme” words throughout your speech
• Utilize appropriate quotations or allusions
• Use specific examples to “ground” your arguments
• Use metaphors to highlight contrasting concepts

Lesson #1: Emphasize Phrases by Repeating at the Beginning of Sentences

Anaphora (repeating words at the beginning of neighbouring clauses) is a commonly used rhetorical device. Repeating the words twice sets the pattern, and further repetitions emphasize the pattern and increase the rhetorical effect.

“ I have a dream ” is repeated in eight successive sentences, and is one of the most often cited examples of anaphora in modern rhetoric. But this is just one of eight occurrences of anaphora in this speech. By order of introduction, here are the key phrases:

• “One hundred years later…” [paragraph 3]
• “Now is the time…” [paragraph 6]
• “We must…” [paragraph 8]
• “We can never (cannot) be satisfied…” [paragraph 13]
• “Go back to…” [paragraph 14]
• “I Have a Dream…” [paragraphs 16 through 24]
• “With this faith, …” [paragraph 26]
• “Let freedom ring (from) …” [paragraphs 27 through 41]

Read those repeated phrases in sequence. Even in the absence of the remainder of the speech, these key phrases tell much of King’s story . Emphasis through repetition makes these phrases more memorable, and, by extension, make King’s story more memorable.

Lesson #2: Repeat Key “Theme” Words Throughout Your Speech

Repetition in forms like anaphora is quite obvious , but there are more subtle ways to use repetition as well. One way is to repeat key “theme” words throughout the body of your speech.

If you count the frequency of words used in King’s “I Have a Dream”, very interesting patterns emerge. The most commonly used noun is freedom , which is used twenty times in the speech. This makes sense, since freedom is one of the primary themes of the speech.

Other key themes? Consider these commonly repeated words:

• freedom (20 times)
• we (30 times), our (17 times), you (8 times)
• nation (10 times), america (5 times), american (4 times)
• justice (8 times) and injustice (3 times)
• dream (11 times)

“I Have a Dream” can be summarized in the view below, which associates the size of the word with its frequency.

Lesson #3: Utilize Appropriate Quotations or Allusions

Evoking historic and literary references is a powerful speechwriting technique which can be executed explicitly (a direct quotation) or implicitly (allusion).

You can improve the credibility of your arguments by referring to the (appropriate) words of credible speakers/writers in your speech. Consider the allusions used by Martin Luther King Jr.:

• “Five score years ago…” [paragraph 2] refers to Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address speech which began “ Four score and seven years ago… ” This allusion is particularly poignant given that King was speaking in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
• “ Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness ” [and the rest of paragraph 4] is a reference to the United States Declaration of Independence.
• “ It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. ” [paragraph 2] alludes to Psalms 30:5 “ For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. “
• “ Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. ” [paragraph 8] evokes Jeremiah 2:13 “ for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water. “
• More biblical allusions from King’s “I Have a Dream” speech can be found here .

Lesson #4: Use specific examples to “ground” your arguments

Your speech is greatly improved when you provide specific examples which illustrate your logical (and perhaps theoretical) arguments.

One way that Martin Luther King Jr. accomplishes this is to make numerous geographic references throughout the speech:

• Mississippi, New York [paragraph 13]
• Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana [14]
• Georgia [18]
• Mississippi [19]
• Alabama [22]
• New Hampshire [32], New York [33], Pennsylvania [34], Colorado [35], California [36], Georgia [37], Tennessee [38], Mississippi [39]

Note that Mississippi is mentioned on four separate occasions. This is not accidental; mentioning Mississippi would evoke some of the strongest emotions and images for his audience.

Additionally, King uses relatively generic geographic references to make his message more inclusive:

• “slums and ghettos of our northern cities” [paragraph 14]
• “the South” [25]
• “From every mountainside” [40]
• “from every village and every hamlet” [41]

Lesson #5: Use Metaphors to Highlight Contrasting Concepts

Metaphors allow you to associate your speech concepts with concrete images and emotions.

To highlight the contrast between two abstract concepts, consider associating them with contrasting concrete metaphors. For example, to contrast segregation with racial justice, King evokes the contrasting metaphors of dark and desolate valley (of segregation) and sunlit path (of racial justice.)

• “joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity” [paragraph 2]
• “the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity” [3]
• “rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice” [6]
• “This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.” [7]
• “sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.” [19]

How can you employ contrasting metaphors in your next speech?

Speech Transcript: I Have a Dream – Martin Luther King Jr.

Note: The formatting has been added by me, not by MLK, to highlight words or phrases which are analyzed above.

[1] I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

[2] Five score years ago , a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

[3] But one hundred years later , the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later , the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later , the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later , the Negro is still languished 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.

[4] In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

[5] But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults 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.

[6] We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate 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.

[7] It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

[8] But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

[9] The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence 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 inextricably bound to our freedom.

[10] We cannot walk alone.

[11] And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

[12] We cannot turn back.

[13] There are those who are asking the devotees 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 fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: “For Whites Only.” We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote 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 “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

[14] I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest — quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. 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.

[15] Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

[16] 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.

[17] 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.”

[18] 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.

[19] 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.

[20] 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.

[21] I have a dream today!

[22] 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.

[23] I have a dream today!

[24] I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and 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.”

[25] This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

[26] 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.

[27] 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:

[28] My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. [29] Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride, [30] From every mountainside, let freedom ring !

[31] And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

[32] And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

[33] Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

[34] Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

[35] Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

[36] Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

[37] But not only that. Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

[38] Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

[39] Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

[40] From every mountainside, let freedom ring .

[41] And when this happens, when we allow freedom 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:

[42] Free at last! Free at last!

[43] Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

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95 comments.

I realize that there are several good reasons that Mr. King had to stay rooted at the lectern with the microphones, yet even if he had a nice stage area with freedom to walk around and still be heard by his audience, I have a hard time imagining his speech being more powerful. It all comes down to the voice, and still more importantly, the content, rhetorical devices and structure.

When a new speaker in my club stays rooted at the podium, and the evaluator encourages him/her to move around as the number 1 critique, I sometimes would disagree. Sure most speeches are more lighthearted than “I have a dream”, and more movement is often called for, yet remaining rooted at the lectern can often give a very good impression of being calm, stable, and anchored. Especially if one is speaking as some form of authority as Mr. King obviously was, these are good qualities.

I just wonder if there has been an unfortunate shift in the way speeches are now perceived (in Toastmasters and everywhere else) that we’ve sometimes lost sight of the fact that at the end of the day, content and substance are the MOST important, and the most memorable elements of a speech. Not whether the speaker moved around or not, not what he or she was wearing, not what he or she did with his hands (and for the record Martin Luther King Jr. did have good usage of his hands in the speech). Those are all just gravy. These classics are a nice reminder of the fact though, so thanks for including it.

One of the greatest speeches of all time and a fantastic anaysis also. Many thanks indeed for the hard work that goes in to producing such valluable insights. Rgds Vince

This was an excellent article. Thank you for posting it here for us, for it really opened my understanding to some things I’d not really seen with the eye of an aspiring, hopeful, future speech writer and speaker, nor even (to my shame), a decent listener!

To explain, I am a new Toastmaster, or Toastmaster Wannabe, I should say, and I need all the tips and help I can get. Public speaking “paralyzes” me. So thanks not only for this particular lesson, but a great big thanks for the entire web site! I have already bookmarked it.

His contribution into equality of races in America that we witness now is tremendous.

And it’s not just my opinion. That’s what famous peers said on Martin Luther King: http://www.tributespaid.com/quotes-on/martin-luther-king

That was a really good video from one of the most hard working men of all time. Without him, I’m sure slavery would be still going on. And it’s sad how right when the freedom started, he was killed, and not able to see his dream. But I’m sure he’s watching from heaven in peace.

this analysis was very helpful and had lots of good note!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Excellent critique on the content of one of the best speeches of all time.

Maybe in a previous post you critiqued the Delivery of Dr. King’s famous speech. If not, it is something you might consider writing about.

He is a master at using all the Verbal Elements of Delivery: Pronunciation and Enunciation, projection, inflectional, cadence, and the pause.

Thanks! Fred

i found this speech very wonderfull and effective because of its words and expressions whiche were very persuasive also the manner whiche marten lother king had delivered the speesh was very amasing because it stems from heart

I have a dream comes up a lot and he wants to get the point through peoples mind and so he uses a lot of sentences because he doesn’t want to live like this or have his family and other families all across the world live the way he had to. what he is saying is I don’t want to put up with this anymore, and we people do not want to be judged by our colour, hair, or the way we look but by the way our personality is.

Metaphor: let the freedom ring. thank you

This was a great analysis. It showed not only what a great speaker Dr. King was but also the depth of his spiritual awareness. I believe that Dr. King was a great man. He along with other brave men and women, transformed American society from a fake democracy into one in which all people can participate and achieve. The miraculous aspect of his great work is that he transformed an openly racist culture into one of tolerance almost overnight and led a spiritual transformation of our nation. I once met Dr. King when I was a teenager. He led a protest/picket campaign against a supermarket chain, in a community where I lived that refused to hire black teenagers as “Bag boys” in its stores. I was one of those teenagers. I met him after a speech he presented at a local movie theater prior to the protest campaign. I got to talk to him one on one. I relive and retell this meeting and conversation in my book, “Talking Penny.” I’ll never forget the words he said to me.

This article is amazing, it really helped me understand King´s speech in a deeper way. Furthermore it is very good structred and short but easy to follow and to understand. Thank you for your help with that article!

Thanks for sharing this resource! I look forward to sharing it with my students.

THIS WAS GREAT HELP. Thank you so much.

i love you right now. biggest help ever on my rhetorical analysis essay for my writing class. biggest life saver. i owe you.

Thanks for your analysis of this powerful speech. I have my HS public speaking students analyze this speech, and you’ve added to what I can help them see.

Great article and website find. I’m subscribed now… How did I miss this before now?? Will promote this too.. Great blog!

It’s not about the words is it? It’s about the delivery/passion? How you deliver it – It’s not about the words?

hello andrew am s fascinated by this analysis infact am gonna peruse through like ten more times. besides am a speaking champion in uganda but still need more of these, am gonna contest for guild presidency this year march 2011 tchao!

Why does he repeat the word justice?

This page was EXTREMELY heplful! Thank you!

Questions: -Some examples of repetition in King’s speech were “we cannot be satisfied” and “now is the time.” This adds to the appeal of the speech because it makes it stronger and more powerful. These terms that King repeats are key words that have to do with ending racism. People remember these words and it wraps the entire speech into a couple of repetitive words. Other examples of repetition in this speech are “we must,” “go back,” and, “I have a dream.” That one repetition example was so important that it became the title of the speech. Something that I noticed about repetition is that it starts at the beginning of the sentence then continue with something different to stress the repeated term.

Wow! This Article really helped me understand this speech at a whole new level. Way to go Andrew!! Thanks so much for your help.

I once never thought that one day the speech will be suitable in my academic study, but it is so important, thank you!

I think martin’ repetition of “I have a dream” ‘s phrase is significant;by stressing on it he wants to assure the audience about his unbreakable optimism viewed as prophesy

Excellent critique. Would like to read similar critiques of his other speeches

The more memorable and more dynamic 2nd 10-minute part of the speech-which starts with the “I Have a Dream” theme-was impropmptu. It was not part of the written speech draft that Dr. King prepared and read on the podium. Essentially, Dr. King was constructing the 2nd part as he spoke.Dr. King achieved this rare feat because of the abundant collection of speech material he has assembled thru the years from prodigious reading and actual speeches delivered in other locations.

Continued…

Invariably, Dr. King was the most dynamic when he is unshackled from the written draft. While the 1st (prepared and written) part of the speech was good, the 2nd impromptu part was much better-more like electrifying.

Dr. King’s rare genius results from his rare ability to seamlessly merge his own eloquence with the eloquence of others (direct quotes, allusions or paraphrases)> The whole eventually appears as if written by him in one coherent whole.

There are those who propound that the more memorable 2nd part was inspired at a higher level. Some use the words “divinely inspired.” Whatever its genuine nature,it is amazing than a speaker could craft an impromptu portion that would be considered a oratorical masterpiece.

How did Dr. King come to deliver the 2nd 10-minute improptu part that starts with the “I Have A Dream” segment? A gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson, sitted at his right, blurted out: “Tell them about the dream, Dr. King.” Dr. King must have heard it, as he began to articulate his “dream.” The rest is history.

it is a very nice speech

great work andrew,i am taking a course in public speaking and i absolutely love your work. i look forward to be like you one day – an excellent public speaker..

This article was very interesting and very helpful in a paper I had to write for school. Thank you for posting this.

Martin luther king jr. uses repetition to get his point across. to stop the segregation between white and african americans. one way he uses repetition is when he says “let freedom ring” four times in a row to give african americans all the rights that a white man has. the most common use of repetition is when he says “i have a dream” to show what he thinks is right, and what should change wich can grab peoples attenion

Thank you for sharing this insightful, detailed, and illuminating analysis. I will be recommending your site to my speech students.

Thank you for this excellent analysis, Andrew. I saw it in the Ragan newsletter and referenced it in my blog. I especially like your focus on repetition in speaking, a subject I harp on quite a bit.

I find this man inspirational and am choosing to wirte about him for an english literature piece. This has really started me off and has really helped. Dr. Luther King was an amazing man and he changed the way that we look at the world. He changed the world and is arguably the worlds most significant person.

this work is absolutely amazing!

I found this feature very helpful with my current linguistics topic of study.

“I have a dream” that you would be my teacher, I understand the speech after looking at your website keep up the good work.

Thank you for sharing this amazing masterpiece. It is well clarified and well presented and organised. I agree that it is one of the high standard and posh speech. Thanks again

that was a very good speach and that martin luther king was still mostly famoum. martin was an insperation and that we should all have a dream that the nation will rise up to meet the standeds of america

thats a very good speach and my grandad would be proud of this website and of the creator

Why did King say “Five score years ago” when he could of said “One hundred years ago” and then later, why did he say “One hundred years later” instead of “Five score years ago”? I’m analyzing his language in this speech and I came across this, so it made me wonder… anyone care to answer?

Here five scores means 20 years ago..

I studied Rev. King’s I Have a Dream speech in a writing class; it is a speech, a piece of writing, that always moves me. The anaphora is so pronounced, so captivating, the listener cannot help but be swept away. I am always in tears by the time I reach the end, and I have read this speech many times. I hope every student is given the opportunity to study these words, to understand them, and to appreciate the sacrifices made since then.

This is an excellent analysis of Dr. King’s speech! I have learned a lot, and will use it as a reference for future speeches I make.

I enjoyed this analysis. I would love to this speech highlighted with different colors like the critique on Churchill’s “iron curtain.”

I thought all five lessons were important, and easy to understand. They broke each part of his speech down in a way I wouldn’t have thought to. However, I particularly liked and took an interest in lesson 1 and 2. The repetition was strategic and purposeful rather than like in high school we were always told to use synonyms and expand our vocabulary. It was making a point, and it is true, when I think of this speech “I have a dream” is the very first thing that comes to mind, and this was a strategy and exactly what he wanted when he wrote this! Excellent!

I have read MLK’S speech several times. It is always fresh and timeless.It is the master of all speeches. The above analysis helped me to appreciate the speech than ever before.

The visual representation and summary of the frequency of word usage in the speech is a great idea. It appears to be similar to concept maps, and would be useful for both writing and analyzing speeches. It could serve as an initial framework to clear up ideas and ensure that a speech is centered around the intended themes. The quotations used, especially those from the Bible, add extra power to the speech. At that time, more Americans were familiar with the contents of the Bible and would be motivated to action at the quotations and allurement to scriptural passages. Religion is a subject that is always taken very seriously and is something people are highly passionate about, so a well-used quotation or reference can do more to persuade people many techniques.

A very good analysis of this famous speech that not only gave good advice on speech writing in general, but also helped me understand the speech on a deeper level.

I thought this analysis was absolutely amazing. I found it very insightful and gave me a look into the details of the speech. I’ve learned about MLK and the “I have a Dream” speech but I’ve never learned this much about it. This gave me a different perspective of what it actually took him to write the speech. I particularly took interest in the theme of freedom, learning what Anaphora is and the impact on the pauses, pronunciation, projection, and of course, the repetition. This was a great analysis and I think many people can learn more about the speech with this critique.

The breakdown of the speech brought things to my attention that I had otherwise over looked. It is clear that much time and consideration was put into the construction of the speech. The metaphors used, added a power to the speech that showed the commitment and passion Dr. King felt. It is also clear that he knew what he was doing. The time he took to connect things together in the speech was evident. While reviewing the video, it seemed that he kept a strong and steady pace from the beginning until almost the end; then toward the end of the speech, when he really wanted to show emphasis, his voice and physical motions showed changed to show his feelings. Something else I viewed as powerful was Dr. King’s use of examples that the audience could relate to. The use of events that had taken place pulled in more audience support, and again showed his commitment and passion.

The best speech of all time. So motivating and important. I like this new look at it too. Helps me see it in a whole new light.

I think the analysis was amazing. I’ve learned about the “I Have a Dream” speech in just about every year of school, but I have never looked this deep into it. I have listened to the speech before, but would have never understood or picked up on anything like I did after reading this. The metaphors used the allusions, and very strong arguments all came together to make a perfect speech. No wonder this is nationally known, he is a genius. His strategy to go around points that were needed to be made was phenomenal. Apart from the speech, the analysis broke it down beyond perfect to show everyone what exactly was going through Dr. King’s head. Everyone can benefit from listening to this well constructed speech and speech analysis.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream Speech,” is one of the most memorable speeches of all time. This speech was one of the main reasons for the breaking of the color barrier. Dr. King is very passionate and emotional throughout his speech, which is seen through his vocal variety, the way he emphasizes certain words, and how overall powerful he is while giving this speech. Through the use of repeating specific phrases, “Now is the time, I have a dream, Let freedom ring,” his use of allusions, and the way he uses his metaphors, really make this speech so personal. By repeating the phrases, people throughout America see how passionate he is, and he gets his point across. His use of allusions when quoting Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, and quoting multiple biblical verses, really adds a personalized effect to Dr. King’s audience. He is stating that one of America’s former presidents, who gave the Gettysburg Address, signed the Emancipation Proclamation, and when quoting the bible verses, saying that God created man equal. Finally with his use of metaphors, Dr. King uses the phrases of dark and desolate valleys to mean segregation. Its the little things that Dr. King did to make this speech so powerful and ultimately, destroy the color barrier for the United States.

I really enjoyed this analysis of MLK’s speech. It’s really interesting that he repeats things so many times. You always hear how you should come back to a point to get that certain point across, but I never thought about going back to the same point or saying the same thing numerous times. Reading all of the statements he repeated was a huge eye opener. I also never really thought about how he brought all of this other history into his speech like the geography of the states he decribed or the statements from other important documents. This was overall a very good analysis and I actually enjoyed reading about it.

This is an outstanding speech made at a very crucial time. I feel that one of the major points is that many speakers of this time were very focused on retaliatory a acts, and specific incidences for relations to people. Though there are a few geographical references in Dr. Martin Luther Kings speech, what set it apart to me is that he took a collection of many local problems, categorized them into regions, then into speaking about the state of the nation as a whole. By doing this he gives everyone a feeling of unity and purpose, followed by relating this now entire group of people to other major historical events that people can relate to. By referring to Lincoln, this was something that people had heard personal stories and first hand accounts about their own ancestors fighting for justice. Then relating the same group to the trials of the people and perseverance of biblical characters, which are very well known, helps give credibility, a sense of relation, and a foundation to build up and succeed just as others who faced towering obstacles had overcome them. By referencing these groups and making repetitive notations from their trials to those of the current situation makes this a great speech. It not only motivated the intended audience but became, in itself, the next story that future generations could refer to in times of trial.

I thought this analysis was great. In high school we barely talked about the “I Have A Dream Speech” and it was great to finally learn about it and go into detail about the organization of the speech. I never would have noticed some of his strategies without reading this analysis. I think anyone who is attempting to write a powerful speech would benefit from watching Dr. King’s speech and reading this analysis.

I always believed that in order to speech to count it has to change the way of the people and the way that ourselves think today. Martin Luther King’s speech did just that and it was a speech that made history and really saved our society and our nation from what could have been a terrible future up until today for America.He used the term “we” the most which for a speech like this is very important because he’s addressing what he wants all America to be like. Overall, one of the greatest speeches ever to take place in history.

The “I Have a Dream” speech has always been iconic, since the day it was first given and even now. The vividness of Martin Luther King JR.’s descriptions and the strong words he chooses to express his wishes communicate on a deep level with listeners and inspire the wish for change, just as they did then. All of this combined with strong his strong voices and unique delivery style leaves listeners aching to make a change, even years after his voice rang out across the reflecting pool at the Lincoln memorial.

The “I have a Dream Speech” has been a well known speech among people for several years. I have listened to the speech before but I never picked up on certain verbal accents and change in volume throughout the speech. In the speech he kept a very good pace,but would change his volume when he was trying to get his point across. I also paid attention to the words that he choose to use because he was very good at conveying his message and I felt that his word choices were a positive factor. I also noticed that he said “we” a lot which I also liked because he was not just referring to himself, but his entire audience. This speech is a great speech and is a great tool for someone who wants to conduct a speech.

I thought that the critique was very interesing. Everyone knows that the “I Have A Dream” speech is a very memorabe one indeed. We always listened to it at school, but we never really looked into the speech with great detail so the critique really taught me a lot. I learned from this critique that Dr. Msrtin Luther King Jr. used a lot of metaphors througout his speech, and I think that’s one of the reasons the speech was so strong, and his repetition at the beginning of his sentences really caught the attention of everone listening that day, and when people listen to it today.

Andrew– an amazing analysis!!

A very good analysis to help students understand the requirements for speech writing. Students did benefit from it. thank you

This is a great article. Breaks everything down on how great this speech was and how and why it was so great. Martin Luther King used repetition in the perfect way to get his message through. The beginning of the speech had consecutive repetition which actually grabbed the audience attention. This article was extremely helpful in understanding why this speech was so great.

Thanks a lot for this well-structured analysis of the speech. It is a speech that has touched me ever since I first encountered it as a teenager. Now being an English teacher (at a German high school) I finally get to teach young adults (like I once was) about it and your analysis is of great help to me!

This website with the critiques to the Martin Luther King speech was very useful i really enjoyed and liked it!

What a fabulous article you wrote! I will be letting my children read it.

Many many thanks for making this available to the general public.I intend to use this with my students, if I may, and shall report on their reaction.

I have read this speech over twenty times and this analysis has given me a different perspective. This analysis was inspirational and I felt as if I were reading it for the first time. was

The line “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality” is still so relevant in 2016.

I feel like this was a great speech. This man was a great man and did great things. I like when he started to talk about how every one should be free, it is true every one should have freedom no matter where your from or who you are. When he said i am free in the last word of his speech i thought that was very powerful, because that was a statement he wanted to be free so he was. I’m glad he was part of are history and that he did what he thought was right, because he has help the world out.

I agree with Andrew Dlugan, on what he believes to be the key factors or most important parts of the “I Have A Dream” speech. He gives different lessons on all parts of the speech, in which he breaks down the different aspects of them. Lesson #2 states the important themes, phrases and words Dr. King used throughout the speech. Andrew believes that this was very important part of the speech because it’s where Dr. King emphasized what he was saying by repeating them over and over indicating the importance of it.

I think that the most important thing in this speech is when he repeats the key “theme” words. That way the people know who/what you’re talking about and whom you’re talking about. Especially with a speech like this spoken among thousands of people.

What makes this speech a great speech is that there is a lot of dedication towards equality.

This speech is great because he wants freedom and justice for all, not just for African American people.

Lesson number four was a very unique importance reflecting the “I have a dream…” speech. I believe your perspective and the way you feel in this case is very important. Especially since MLK gave specific and clarity throughout his speech. Lesson number four is all about providing examples that could give you an logical illustration of what is being said and that is specifically what makes a great speech.

This is a great speech, I liked how he used repetitiveness. It really makes a point on what he’s trying to get through.

This article is a great analysis to the speech. Martin Luther King’s speech is powerful and strongly impacting to whoever has heard or listened to it. In line 41 to me was very powerful that shows that when it would happen we would all be equal that we always were but it would finally be accepted by more. Martin Luther King is an amazing speaker and his voice was powerful and used his voice to speak what he wanted to prove.

This was a wonderful analysis to this speech. Martin Luther king’s was very powerful especially how he spoke it with ,importance and a powerful impact. My favorite line was line (7) Nineteen sixty three is not an end but a beginning. My personal preference on what it means is it is the beginning to start all over with everyone being able to be treated the same and not be judged by the color of their skin. This was a wonderful speech.

What makes “I have a dream” speech great is the fact that Martin Luther King Jr. used his voice to fight against racial segregation and discrimination. “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.” is my favorite quote from the speech. I believe this quote is so powerful because in this world, there are a lot of judgement on people’s appearances and having Martin Luther King Jr. lecture people on that, I believed it opened a lot of minds.

Mahalo for sharing this lesson … It’s perfect for breaking down King’s message and increasing awareness of figures of speech for students to learn to use in their own writing.

An excellent analysis. I have a question, Why did Martin Luther King use Alabama, Georgia, and Missisipi in his speech? Please enlighten me.

To show emphasis in the deep South,

Iam so impressed. I like the step by step approach with examples.I wish to to learn as an M.ed English student. Also,I wish to start public speaking club with students I teach and my church.I will like you to support me.

Thank you for this article.

There is a good reason why speeches like this are often presented as good examples; something to feel inspired from. It is so full of wonderful elements, like the repeated phrases for instances, which make a huge impact on the overall speech. Public speaking courses can benefit a lot from showing such an example.

” Now is the time…” is actually a form of parallel structure, not repetition.

Actually it is anaphora, and what comes after “Now is the time …” is the parallel structure. I hope it helped you.

Thank you for your inspiring analysis of this historic speech!

This was such a great eye opener to the various mistakes I have been making in most of the speeches I have been giving! Kudos!!!

Thank you so much for this very helpful analysis of language of Luther’s speech. I was preparaing my lesson and ı found this! I ve found lots of useful info for my students. Thank you so much 🙂

The speech analysis of Martin Luther King Jr’s famous ” I Have A Dream Speech”inspired me to teach a fabulous lesson to high school speech-language therapy students of multi-ethnic backgrounds.

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Here’s an insightful analysis that I share with my university #ESL classes. It’s definitely worth reading.… https://t.co/bCKCv04513 — Eric H. Roth (@compellingtalks) Jan 20th, 2019

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Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” Speech Critique Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

On 28th August 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. held a speech that was attended by over 250,000 civil rights fans. His speech which lasted for 18 minutes was given at the moment when blacks were cruelly discriminated against. The speech “I Have a Dream” is always regarded as being among the greatest and famous speeches in history. This speech was a defining period of the Civil Rights Movement in America. Martin Luther King’s background as a first rank leader of the Negro and a member of the civil rights greatly helped him in this speech. He was American blacks’ symbolic leader and a world-image American Rhetoric (2005).

The purpose of the king’s speech was to motivate the endorsement of change within the Americans, and the state, in relation to Americans’ inappropriate views towards unlike races or tribal groups in America. King stresses on the American blacks being victimized, Talking about his fellow blacks from both expert and personal levels. King’s objective was to put important pressure on the state and its citizen, by identifying the mistakes of their habits and the promises which have never happened through history. He asks for change and gives out solutions, by so doing he intended to influence the state to unite, thereby ending the historical division among the American citizen. The important information in king’s speech is that everyone is equally created although that was not the case in America at the moment, he had a strong feeling that this will change in the future.

There is no doubt that the king’s speech was perfectly researched. In his homework, he seriously read the Bible, The Gettysburg Address, and the declaration of United States of America independence and he indirectly refers to all these in his talk. The style of the speech has been explained as a political treatise, poetry work and improvised and a masterfully delivered talk, coming up with language and imagery from the bible plus rhythm and recurrences.

The bigger part of the king’s achievement as an orator was because of his utilization of rhetoric in his communication. He was able to determine the mood and tone of the listeners, and intermingle with them properly. The utilization of metaphors gave him a chance to outline his point to convey an excellent speech. In most cases, he was calm and composed, when needed he was capable to be loud and integrate anyone’s movement. He stopped for applauses often, this permitted the listeners to display their enthusiasm and create them feel included instead of them having a feeling that they are just sitting listening to somebody speech American Rhetoric (2005).

King directed his encouragement to white and blank individuals joining hands to attain racial peace and agreement. He specifically wanted to educate the blanks that sameness could be achieved through the application of non-violence. He also encourages blanks to never forget their dreams and urged that in God’s eyes, blacks should be equally treated because they are important as any race in America. The speech was effective in that it inspired the majority of black and white addressees who attended in Washington and those who were viewing on T.V. The best aspect of this speech is that everybody was equally created. King passionately needed it to be the future case. Apart from this main idea, subsequent thoughts are involved to back up and stress it.

American Rhetoric (2005). Top ten Speeches: I have a Dream by Martin Luther King Jr . delivered 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

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Reflections on MLK’s “I Have a Dream”

To mark the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic speech, scholars, staff and students reflect on its legacy. With images by the late photojournalist Flip Schulke.

Fifty years ago, on a warm late-August day, more than a quarter of a million people participated in one of the country’s largest ever political rallies for human rights. The event was the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and is best remembered for an iconic speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. that has come to be known as “I Have a Dream.”

On the occasion of the event’s 50th anniversary, we gathered images of king taken by flip schulke (1930-2008), a noted photojournalist who donated his vast collection of images taken over a 40-year career to ut’s  briscoe center for american history . and we invited scholars, staff and students to reflect on the legacy of the speech and how it rings today..

As a young student at Howard University I marched that day with my mother and family. Looking back, I am reminded of the power of people coming together peacefully to petition their government for support and policy changes. I expected the federal government to respond with thoughtful and carefully crafted legislation and policy to right the wrongs of the day. My career in public service is informed by the powerful messages of Dr. King, John Lewis and others, and the courageous response of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson and the majority of Congress with the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. America is a better country for their inspiration and actions.

Shirley Franklin , Barbara Jordan Visiting Professor of Ethics and Political Values, LBJ School of Public Affairs , former mayor of Atlanta

The 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s landmark speech is an opportune time to reflect on how this 1,667-word oration serves as a reminder of the “bad check” of slavery, Jim Crow and the alternating cycles of violence and neglect directed towards African Americans. Dr. King clearly intended his words to inspire and uplift all Americans, but we must remember that the inspiration came after a realistic perusal of the American character through the mirror of history. I hope we as a nation have the courage to gaze unafraid at our past and present inequities so that we can accomplish his vision of justice and righteousness flowing “like a mighty stream” for all of the members of the beloved community.

Rich Reddick , assistant professor, Department of Education Administration ; faculty affiliate, John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies

Many of the inequalities and injustices that he speaks out against are nearly the same issues that we rally against today. However, MLK’s speech began a movement that has progressed America’s disadvantaged further than one can measure. His speech and the continuous celebration of it shows us the power in fighting for what you believe in.

Chelsea N. Jones , junior, College of Communication ; co-director of Community Relations, Afrikan American Affairs; assistant director, Diversity and Inclusion Agency, Student Government

I encourage everyone to read the entire speech and ask yourself the following questions: Can America cash the check for justice? Are African Americans still exiles in their own land? Where do we go from here? King wanted us to sit at the table and have an honest conversation about race. Is America ready, willing and able to do so, 50 years later?

Daina Ramey Berry , associate professor, Departments of History and African and African Diaspora Studies

The Dream is a prophecy come true for my family. My wife LeeAnn Kahlor and I are white and we have 5 adopted kids. Four are black and one is Hispanic. As a parent, I sometimes reflect on the fact that our lives together might not be possible. This is when I truly understand what King was able to help us envision as a nation.

Dave Junker , lecturer, Department of Advertising and Public Relations , director, Senior Fellows Honors Program, College of Communication

Because we refer to the Reverend King’s speech as the “I Have a Dream Speech,” we tend to focus on the latter part of it. How differently would we read and think about this speech if we instead referred to it as “The Fierce Urgency of Now” speech!

We would then focus on the way King juxtaposes the sufferings of enslaved men and women “seared in the flames of withering injustice” with the persistently “shameful condition” of 20th century African Americans “crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” King offers an implicit condemnation of a willfully indifferent federal government, bowing to the segregationists of both political parties, and of the liberal whites calling upon civil rights activists to exercise “moderation” and “patience.” To counter these elements of blacks’ “shameful condition,” citizens of goodwill must attack political and economic inequality without delay and compensate for the centuries of betrayal and broken promises endured by people of African descent in America.

As we continue to grapple with such fundamental injustices in American life, King’s words suggest we should do more than “dream” of a better future; rather, the country must take bold action, for, in his still-prescient words, “It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment” that is, a long history of injustice that has led us to “the fierce urgency of Now.”

Jacqueline Jones , professor, Department of History , and author of the forthcoming book, “A Dreadful Deceit: The Myth of Race from the Colonial Era to Obama’s America”

Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech provided a goal that will happen when everyone takes an earnest role in eradicating the divisive impediments and systems that have saturated our communities throughout these United States. Significant progress has been made, but we still have more to accomplish.

Philemon Brown , senior program coordinator and human resources counselor, Division of Housing and Food Services ; president of the Black Faculty Staff Association

It has been said, “For Dr. King, race was in most things but defined nothing alone.” In 2013, some Americans may be surprised that race is still in most things, because its impact is often invisible to most people unless they have explored their awareness of race and related actions. Our refusal to see them as America’s problems precludes our search for an equitable solution for all. Fifty years hence, his prescient words poignantly remind us that we still have much work to do.

Mark A. Gooden , associate professor, Department of Educational Administration ; associate editor, “Urban Education”; director, The Principalship Program

Historical memories of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Justice rarely include its significance for many African American women. Despite appeals by National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) president Dorothy Height, the central organizing committee for the march refused to invite any women to speak at the event. Instead, they seated several women leaders on the platform in recognition of their crucial roles in mobilizing people to attend the march. Civil rights leader Pauli Murray later said, “What emerges most clearly from events of the past several months is the tendency to assign women to a secondary, ornamental or ‘honoree’ role instead of the partnership role in the civil rights movement which they have earned by their courage, intelligence and dedication.” For Murray, Height and others the movements for race and gender equality would henceforth be fused into one.

Laurie Green , associate professor,  Departments of History  and  African and African Diaspora Studies ; author of “Battling the Plantation Mentality: Memphis and the Black Freedom Struggle”

Martin Luther King Jr. was a troublemaker in the truest, best sense of the word. As is typically the case with his kind of troublemaking, we’ll always be just on the cusp of deciding if we’re actually ready to take him seriously.

Imani Evans , public affairs specialist, Hogg Foundation for Mental Health

Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech still resonates with us because it eloquently widened visions of American democracy and freedom. Yet, it is often the only speech many Americans recall when they reflect on Dr. King’s legacy. We must also engage some of his other extraordinary writings from the 1960s, such as “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” “Honoring Dr. DuBois,”and “I’ve been to the Mountaintop,” in order to fully appreciate his understanding of peace and social justice.

Frank A. Guridy , associate professor, Departments of History  and  African and African Diaspora Studies ; author of “Forging Diaspora: Afro-Cubans and African Americans in a World of Empire and Jim Crow”

“I Have a Dream” is perhaps MLK’s most powerful speech rhetorically but not analytically. As King continued organizing in the 1960s, his political vision expanded and deepened, which was reflected in speeches that grew more radical. Yet for many Americans, that 1963 speech remains the only one they know. We have yet to achieve the “radical revolution of values” that King called for late in his life. The anniversary of the march and the speech is a time to reflect on the victories in the civil rights struggle to end apartheid in the United States and to be honest about the injustice that remains.

Robert Jensen , professor, School of Journalism ; author of “Arguing for Our Lives: A User’s Guide to Constructive Dialogue” and “The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege”

While it is clear to me that we live in a different world from the one that provided the context for Martin Luther King’s speech 50 years ago, current events remind me we have far to go to fully realize his dream. His dream, his words, provide me with a destination and goal as I determine the work and tasks I choose to focus on each day.

Ixchel Rosal , director, Gender and Sexuality Center ; interim director, Multicultural Engagement Center

In King’s memorable “I Have a Dream” speech, he said: “1963 is not an end but a beginning.” Yet, 50 years later poverty is more pronounced. Indeed, could King have anticipated the nation’s changing demographics for as he also said in that 1963 speech: “for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence 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 inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.”

Juliet E. K. Walker , professor, Department of History ; founder/director Center for Black Business, History, Entrepreneurship, and Technology ; IC 2 Institute Jack D. Wrather Jr. Centennial Fellow; IC 2 Gerhard J. Fonken Endowed Research Fellow

While “I Have a Dream” was indeed a powerful speech we must remember that it was for a specific purpose at a specific time. We must also remember that the MLK who gave that speech in 1963 was not the same MLK by 1966.

Leonard Moore , professor, Department of History , and associate vice president for Academic Diversity Initiatives

The March on Washington demanded far-reaching changes in law, education, economics and politics. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech fused a passionate plea for change with a strong commitment to civility and respect for the dignity of all citizens, even those with whom he disagreed. As he inspired listeners “to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges,” King also reminded his followers: “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.” We would do well, today, if we learned to pursue passionate change with more civility and much less bitterness and hatred.

Jeremi Suri , professor, Department of History and LBJ School of Public Affairs

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"I Have a Dream": an Analysis of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Iconic Speech

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Introduction, historical background, structure of the speech, rhetorical techniques used, themes and messages, impact and legacy, critique and controversies.

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The Lasting Power of Dr. King’s Dream Speech

By Michiko Kakutani

• Aug. 27, 2013

It was late in the day and hot, and after a long march and an afternoon of speeches about federal legislation, unemployment and racial and social justice, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. finally stepped to the lectern, in front of the Lincoln Memorial, to address the crowd of 250,000 gathered on the National Mall.

He began slowly, with magisterial gravity, talking about what it was to be black in America in 1963 and the “shameful condition” of race relations a hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Unlike many of the day’s previous speakers, he did not talk about particular bills before Congress or the marchers’ demands. Instead, he situated the civil rights movement within the broader landscape of history — time past, present and future — and within the timeless vistas of Scripture.

Dr. King was about halfway through his prepared speech when Mahalia Jackson — who earlier that day had delivered a stirring rendition of the spiritual “I Been ’Buked and I Been Scorned” — shouted out to him from the speakers’ stand: “Tell ’em about the ‘Dream,’ Martin, tell ’em about the ‘Dream’!” She was referring to a riff he had delivered on earlier occasions, and Dr. King pushed the text of his remarks to the side and began an extraordinary improvisation on the dream theme that would become one of the most recognizable refrains in the world.

With his improvised riff, Dr. King took a leap into history, jumping from prose to poetry, from the podium to the pulpit. His voice arced into an emotional crescendo as he turned from a sobering assessment of current social injustices to a radiant vision of hope — of what America could be. “I have a dream,” he declared, “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!”

Many in the crowd that afternoon, 50 years ago on Wednesday, had taken buses and trains from around the country. Many wore hats and their Sunday best — “People then,” the civil rights leader John Lewis would recall, “when they went out for a protest, they dressed up” — and the Red Cross was passing out ice cubes to help alleviate the sweltering August heat. But if people were tired after a long day, they were absolutely electrified by Dr. King. There was reverent silence when he began speaking, and when he started to talk about his dream, they called out, “Amen,” and, “Preach, Dr. King, preach,” offering, in the words of his adviser Clarence B. Jones, “every version of the encouragements you would hear in a Baptist church multiplied by tens of thousands.”

You could feel “the passion of the people flowing up to him,” James Baldwin, a skeptic of that day’s March on Washington, later wrote, and in that moment, “it almost seemed that we stood on a height, and could see our inheritance; perhaps we could make the kingdom real.”

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• Civil Rights

‘He Had Transformed’: What It Was Like to Watch Martin Luther King Jr. Give the ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech

T uesday marks 55 years since the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech to the crowd that had gathered around the Lincoln Memorial for the Aug. 28, 1963, March on Washington.

While planning for the event had been going on for years before that day, and copies of the speech drafts and notes show that King had been working on what to say for weeks, many may not realize that the most famous lines were not planned at all.

Some credit goes to the gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, King’s former legal counsel Clarence B. Jones , 87, tells TIME. She was one of his most trusted advisors — and an informal therapist of sorts, as Jones frames it. “When he would get very down and depressed, he would ask his secretary Dora McDonald to get Mahalia on the phone,” he says. “He would lean back, close his eyes, and tears would run down his face as she would sing to him.”

So it’s not a surprise that after she performed “How I Got Over” and “I’ve Been ‘Buked and I’ve Been Scorned” at the march, she stuck close by through what would turn out to be one of his most important speeches.

“What most people don’t know is that she shouted to him as he was speaking, ‘Martin! Tell them about the dream! Martin, tell them about the dream!’ I was there. I saw it with my own eyes. I was not on the stage, Dr. King’s back was to me as he was speaking, but I could hear and see him,” Jones tells TIME. “He took the written text that he had been reading from and moved it to the left side of the lectern, grabbed both hands of the lectern, and looked out to the thousands of people out there, and that’s when he started speaking extemporaneously. When Baptist preachers get particularly moved, many of them have a habit of taking their right foot as they’re standing and rubbing it up and down the lower part of their left leg. I saw Martin start to rub his right foot on the lower part of his left leg, and I said to someone who was standing next to me, ‘These people out there, they don’t know it, but they’re about ready to go to church.'”

The day unleashed a side of King that Jones had never seen before.

Step Into History: Learn how to experience the 1963 March on Washington in virtual reality

It wasn’t the precise wording that was new. King had even used the phrase “I Have a Dream,” just a couple months earlier in Detroit at a rally for freedom that Reverend C.L. Franklin, Aretha Franklin’s father, helped organize, and “it did not evoke any kind of special response,” says Jones, who went on to write the book Behind the Dream : The Making of the Speech that Transformed a Nation .

“I had seen Dr. King speak many times in churches throughout the country, but [at the March on Washington] there was something kind of mystical. He had transformed. Oh my God, something had taken over his body. It was spell-binding,” Jones says. “The speech was, in its content, not a profound analysis or commentary, but it’s the way he spoke and the intensity of how he felt.”

Jones believes that intensity came from the challenge of asking America to live up to its ideals just four months after the nation had been confronted with horrifying photographs and television footage of African-American adults and children being faced down with police dogs and fire hoses in Birmingham, Ala.

“I think [the speech] was giving an answer to a rhetorical question addressed collectively to the nation. That question is: what kind of country are we? The speech was a call to the soul of America. It was a call to the moral conscience of America. The powerful use of the phrase ‘I have a dream’ was a summons to the conscience of America,” Jones says. “One of the things King knew at that time is that no matter how compelling the case was on its merits for ending racial segregation, there was no way in hell that African Americans would be able to impose that point of view on the white American majority. The only way it was going to happen is when we got the majority of white people to understand that it was in [their] self-interest that this practice of racial segregation end. That we can be better than we are.”

Today, Jones says, “unsolved” racial equality issues and income inequality mean that the theme of America not living up to its ideals is more relevant than ever . Jones, who lives in Palo Alto, Calif., says he sees that fact regularly in his everyday life: “I’m out here in Silicon Valley — how is it that there are homeless people sleeping on the streets in San Francisco?”

But, he also says, the solution to that problem is something all Americans can help with.

“At the end of the day, if you want to implement Martin King’s dream, if you’re eligible to vote, you have to register to vote, and you have to vote,” he says. “If you want to implement his dreams, you can only do that from power, and power doesn’t come from speeches. Power comes from voting. Anyone who wants to honor Martin’s legacy tomorrow, that’s the best way to pay tribute to his dream.”

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“I Have a Dream”: Annotated

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s iconic speech, annotated with relevant scholarship on the literary, political, and religious roots of his words.

For this month’s Annotations, we’ve taken Martin Luther King, Jr.’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech, and provided scholarly analysis of its groundings and inspirations—the speech’s religious, political, historical and cultural underpinnings are wide-ranging and have been read as jeremiad, call to action, and literature. While the speech itself has been used (and sometimes misused) to call for a “color-blind” country, its power is only increased by knowing its rhetorical and intellectual antecedents.      

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation . This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have 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 hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now . This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God’s children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred .

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote 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 justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, 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 wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, 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 slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four 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 the state of Alabama, whose governor’s lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

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 with which I return to the South. 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.

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This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, 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. 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 snowcapped 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 every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom 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!”

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Read Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech in its entirety

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. addresses the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., where he gave his "I Have a Dream" speech on Aug. 28, 1963, as part of the March on Washington. AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. addresses the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., where he gave his "I Have a Dream" speech on Aug. 28, 1963, as part of the March on Washington.

Monday marks Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Below is a transcript of his celebrated "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered on Aug. 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. NPR's Talk of the Nation aired the speech in 2010 — listen to that broadcast at the audio link above.

Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders gather before a rally at the Lincoln Memorial on Aug. 28, 1963, in Washington. National Archives/Hulton Archive via Getty Images hide caption

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.: Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But 100 years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in 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 cash a check.

Code Switch

The power of martin luther king jr.'s anger.

When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men — yes, Black men as well as white men — would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds.

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.

Martin Luther King is not your mascot

We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults 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 hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.

Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

Civil rights protesters march from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963. Kurt Severin/Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. 1963 is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.

There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

Throughline

Bayard rustin: the man behind the march on washington (2021).

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence 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 inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees 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 fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.

We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: for whites only.

We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote 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 justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

How The Voting Rights Act Came To Be And How It's Changed

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. 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 wallow in the valley of despair, 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.

People clap and sing along to a freedom song between speeches at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Express Newspapers via Getty Images hide caption

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 down 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.

Nikole Hannah-Jones on the power of collective memory

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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 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 mountainside, let freedom ring.

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And 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 snowcapped 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 molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom 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.

Correction Jan. 15, 2024

A previous version of this transcript included the line, "We have also come to his hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now." The correct wording is "We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now."

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‘I Have a Dream’ Speech

By: History.com Editors

Updated: December 19, 2023 | Original: November 30, 2017

The “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr. before a crowd of some 250,000 people at the 1963 March on Washington, remains one of the most famous speeches in history. Weaving in references to the country’s Founding Fathers and the Bible , King used universal themes to depict the struggles of African Americans before closing with an improvised riff on his dreams of equality. The eloquent speech was immediately recognized as a highlight of the successful protest, and has endured as one of the signature moments of the civil rights movement .

Civil Rights Movement Before the Speech

Martin Luther King Jr. , a young Baptist minister, rose to prominence in the 1950s as a spiritual leader of the burgeoning civil rights movement and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SLCC).

By the early 1960s, African Americans had seen gains made through organized campaigns that placed its participants in harm’s way but also garnered attention for their plight. One such campaign, the 1961 Freedom Rides , resulted in vicious beatings for many participants, but resulted in the Interstate Commerce Commission ruling that ended the practice of segregation on buses and in stations.

Similarly, the Birmingham Campaign of 1963, designed to challenge the Alabama city’s segregationist policies, produced the searing images of demonstrators being beaten, attacked by dogs and blasted with high-powered water hoses.

Around the time he wrote his famed “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King decided to move forward with the idea for another event that coordinated with Negro American Labor Council (NACL) founder A. Philip Randolph’s plans for a job rights march.

March on Washington

Thanks to the efforts of veteran organizer Bayard Rustin, the logistics of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom came together by the summer of 1963.

Joining Randolph and King were the fellow heads of the “Big Six” civil rights organizations: Roy Wilkins of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Whitney Young of the National Urban League (NUL), James Farmer of the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) and John Lewis of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

Other influential leaders also came aboard, including Walter Reuther of the United Auto Workers (UAW) and Joachim Prinz of the American Jewish Congress (AJC).

Scheduled for August 28, the event was to consist of a mile-long march from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, in honor of the president who had signed the Emancipation Proclamation a century earlier, and would feature a series of prominent speakers.

Its stated goals included demands for desegregated public accommodations and public schools, redress of violations of constitutional rights and an expansive federal works program to train employees.

The March on Washington produced a bigger turnout than expected, as an estimated 250,000 people arrived to participate in what was then the largest gathering for an event in the history of the nation’s capital.

Along with notable speeches by Randolph and Lewis, the audience was treated to performances by folk luminaries Bob Dylan and Joan Baez and gospel favorite Mahalia Jackson .

‘I Have a Dream’ Speech Origins

In preparation for his turn at the event, King solicited contributions from colleagues and incorporated successful elements from previous speeches. Although his “I have a dream” segment did not appear in his written text, it had been used to great effect before, most recently during a June 1963 speech to 150,000 supporters in Detroit.

Unlike his fellow speakers in Washington, King didn’t have the text ready for advance distribution by August 27. He didn’t even sit down to write the speech until after arriving at his hotel room later that evening, finishing up a draft after midnight.

‘Free At Last’

As the March on Washington drew to a close, television cameras beamed Martin Luther King’s image to a national audience. He began his speech slowly but soon showed his gift for weaving recognizable references to the Bible, the U.S. Constitution and other universal themes into his oratory.

Pointing out how the country’s founders had signed a “promissory note” that offered great freedom and opportunity, King noted that “Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.'”

At times warning of the potential for revolt, King nevertheless maintained a positive, uplifting tone, imploring the audience to “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 wallow in the valley of despair.”

Mahalia Jackson Prompts MLK: 'Tell 'em About the Dream, Martin'

Around the halfway point of the speech, Mahalia Jackson implored him to “Tell ’em about the ‘Dream,’ Martin.” Whether or not King consciously heard, he soon moved away from his prepared text.

Repeating the mantra, “I have a dream,” he offered up hope 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” and the desire to “transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.”

“And when this happens,” he bellowed in his closing remarks, “and when we allow freedom 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!'”

7 Things You May Not Know About MLK’s ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech

Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech ranks among the most famous in history, but there are a few lesser‑known facts about the 1963 moment.

Civil Rights Movement Timeline

The civil rights movement was an organized effort by black Americans to end racial discrimination and gain equal rights under the law. It began in the late 1940s and ended in the late 1960s.

An Intimate View of MLK Through the Lens of a Friend

“Outside of my immediate family, his was the greatest friendship I have ever known or experienced,” photographer Flip Schulke said of Martin Luther King Jr.

‘I Have a Dream’ Speech Text

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's Capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence , they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.

This note was a promise that all men, yes, Black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check; a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have 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 hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate 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 fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence 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 inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees 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 fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.

We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.

We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "for whites only."

We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote 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 justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

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 wallow in the valley of despair.

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 down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, that one day right down 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 that one day every valley shall be exhalted [sic], 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 will 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 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 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 the Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom 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!"

MLK Speech Reception

King’s stirring speech was immediately singled out as the highlight of the successful march.

James Reston of The New York Times wrote that the “pilgrimage was merely a great spectacle” until King’s turn, and James Baldwin later described the impact of King’s words as making it seem that “we stood on a height, and could see our inheritance; perhaps we could make the kingdom real.”

Just three weeks after the march, King returned to the difficult realities of the struggle by eulogizing three of the girls killed in the bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.

Still, his televised triumph at the feet of Lincoln brought favorable exposure to his movement, and eventually helped secure the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 . The following year, after the violent Selma to Montgomery march in Alabama, African Americans secured another victory with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 .

Over the final years of his life, King continued to spearhead campaigns for change even as he faced challenges by increasingly radical factions of the movement he helped popularize. Shortly after visiting Memphis, Tennessee, in support of striking sanitation workers, and just hours after delivering another celebrated speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” King was assassinated by shooter James Earl Ray on the balcony of his hotel room on April 4, 1968.

'I Have a Dream' Speech Legacy

Remembered for its powerful imagery and its repetition of a simple and memorable phrase, King’s “I Have a Dream” speech has endured as a signature moment of the civil rights struggle, and a crowning achievement of one of the movement’s most famous faces.

The Library of Congress added the speech to the National Recording Registry in 2002, and the following year the National Park Service dedicated an inscribed marble slab to mark the spot where King stood that day.

In 2016, Time included the speech as one of its 10 greatest orations in history.

HISTORY Vault: Black History

Watch acclaimed Black History documentaries on HISTORY Vault.

“I Have a Dream,” Address Delivered at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute . March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. National Park Service . JFK, A. Philip Randolph and the March on Washington. The White House Historical Association . The Lasting Power of Dr. King’s Dream Speech. The New York Times .

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Freedom's Ring "I Have a Dream" Speech

Main navigation.

Freedom's Ring  is Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, annotated. Here you can compare the written and spoken speech, explore multimedia images, listen to movement activists and uncover historical context.

Fifty years ago, in the concluding address of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, King demanded the riches of freedom and the security of justice. Today his language of love, nonviolent direct action and redemptive suffering, resonates globally in the millions who stand up for freedom and elevate democracy to its ideals. How do the echoes of King's Dream live within you?

Freedom's Ring serves as an innovative and thought-provoking resource for teachers, students, and the larger community. Evan Bissell, a Bay Area artist and educator, and webdesigner Erik Loyer worked with King Institute's Dr. Andrea McEvoy Spero,  Dr. Clayborne Carson and Regina Covington to create an engaging experience that documents one of the most famous events in Civil Rights history. Freedom's Ring compliments the King Legacy Series by Beacon Press and the corresponding curriculum guide.