Welcome to Civil Rights
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, 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, 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.
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
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.
I came to you today my friend to 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
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 at last.
