[Applause] 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 friend 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 its Creed we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created I have a dream that one day on the Red Hills of Georgia 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 my four little children will one day
live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of our 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 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 word of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together this is our hope this is a feat 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 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 snow-capped Rockies of Colorado let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California but not on to 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 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 you