I Have A Dream

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

Live out the true meaning of it's 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

Sons of formal slaves and the sons of formal 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

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 it's vicious racists

With it's governor having his lips dripping

With the words of interposition and nullification

One day right there in Alabama

Little Black boys and Black girls

Will be able to join hands

With little white boys and white girls

As sisters and brothers

I have a dream, today

I have a dream that one day

Every valley shall be exalted

Every hill and mountain shall be made low

The rough places will be made plain

And the crooked places will be made straight

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed

And all flesh shall see it together

This is our hope

This is a faith that I go back to the South with

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope

With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation

Into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood

With this faith we will be able to work together

To pray together

To struggle together

To go to jail together

To stand up for freedom together

Knowing that we will be free one day

This will be the day

This will be the day when all of God's children

Will be able to sing with 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 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, when we allow freedom to ring

When we let it ring from every village and every hamlet

From every state and every city

We will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children

Black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles

Protestants and Catholics

Will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual

"Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"