The March on Washington,
August 28, 1963, was the largest civil rights demonstration in history. The
"March for Jobs and Freedom" was conceived by A. Philip Randolf,
leader of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, coordinated by Bayard
Rustin, and supported by all the major civil rights groups, labor, and many
churches. One hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation, 250,000 black
and white citizens gathered to petition the government for racial equality and
listen to speeches by such black leaders as John Lewis, James Farmer, and Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech,
August 28, 1963
http://historywired.si.edu/detail.cfm?ID=501
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 of hope to millions of 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 one hundred years later, the colored
America
is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the colored American is
still sadly crippled by the manacle of segregation and the chains of
discrimination.
One hundred years later, the colored American lives on a
lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.
One hundred years later, the colored American 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 a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our Nation's Capital to cash a
check. When the architects of our great 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 to 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 its colored
people a bad check, a check that 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 security of
justice.
We have also come to his hallowed spot to remind America of the
fierce urgency of Now. This is not 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 promise of democracy.
Now it the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of
segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.
Now it 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 to all of God's
children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of
the moment and to underestimate the determination of its colored citizens. This
sweltering summer of the colored people'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 colored
Americans 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 colored citizen 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.
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 colored person'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 white only."
We cannot be satisfied as long as a colored person in Mississippi cannot vote and a colored person in New York believes he has
nothing for which to vote.
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
your trials and tribulations. Some of you have come from areas where your quest
for freedom left you battered by storms of persecutions 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 modern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will
be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you, my
friends, we have 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 out in the red hills of Georgia the
sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners 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 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 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
interpostion 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 today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be engulfed,
every hill shall be exalted and every mountain shall be made low, the rough
places will be made plains 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 climb 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 father's 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
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 Stone Mountain of
Georgia.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi and every
mountainside.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every
tenement 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 spiritual, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God
Almighty, we are free at last."
Photos..
http://www.google.hr/search?q=martin+luther+king+jr+i+have+a+dream+speech&client=opera&hs=yYO&channel=suggest&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=qXQaUoesKIv14QS-qYDwAg&ved=0CDsQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=651
Advice from Martin Luther King
http://blog.printrunner.com/2013/01/inspiring-marketing-advice-martin-luther-king-jr-quotes/
v i d e o…..
I HAVE A DREAM... MARTIN LUTHER KING - August 28, 1963. -
video…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UV1fs8lAbg
There are brilliant moments in human history and magical
moments in our lives, when our perception of the world is crystal clear and
"time" itself seems to stand still! When these events occur, we
remember exactly where we were and what was transpiring around us!
On Wednesday, August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.,
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. created an electrifying and spectacular moment in
human history when he delivered his internationally famous "I Have a
Dream" speech. Considered to be the best speech of the 20th century, it
echoed throughout the entire world and continues to reverberate through time
and the soul of humanity today!
President Obama, President Clinton and President Carter to
Commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington on Wednesday August 28th
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/08/26/president-obama-president-clinton-and-president-carter-commemorate-50th-anniversary-?utm_source=snapshot&utm_medium=email&utm_content=082313-topper
This Wednesday will mark 50 years since Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech at the base of the
Lincoln Memorial; a moment which served to punctuate a movement that changed America.
To honor this occasion, President Obama will be joined
Wednesday, August 28th, by President Jimmy Carter and President Bill Clinton,
members of the King family and other civil rights leaders and luminaries at the
Let Freedom Ring Commemoration and Call to Action event at the Lincoln
Memorial, to commemorate Dr. King’s soaring speech and the 1963 March on
Washington.
As we mark this important anniversary, we reflect on what
the Civil Rights Movement has meant for the country, and perhaps most
importantly, the hard work that lies ahead as we continue to pursue the ideals
laid out by Dr. King, and sought by the hundreds of thousands of Americans who
marched through our nation’s capital fifty years ago.
This event is open to the public. Doors open at 9:00 AM, for
an 11:00 AM program start on Wednesday, August 28th at the Lincoln Memorial.
Guests arriving after 12:00 PM are not guaranteed admittance. In order to access the venue, you must enter
from the east side of the Reflecting Pool, on 17th street, near the World War II
Memorial.
For more information on the 50th Anniversary Let Freedom
Ring Ceremony and Call to Action Event at the Lincoln Memorial please visit http://officialmlkdream50.com/ august-28/.