
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 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.’ set aside the prepared text and spoke from his heart. Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson shouted, “Tell ’em about the dream, Martin!” To his aides’ chagrin, Martin Luther King, Jr. King say? His advisers recommended against referring to “dreams” because, “It’s trite and cliché, and you’ve used it too many times already.”Įleven minutes into his sixteen-minute speech, King paused for dramatic effect. However, there also was an air of expectation. King was the next-to-last speaker and the crowd grew listless as Washington’s notorious humidity took its toll. The March on Washington would commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and culminate on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. After that, sit-ins were replicated across North Carolina before spreading to other Southern states. Each day after, the number grew: First twenty, then sixty, then three-hundred people showed up. When they were refused service, they remained seated until the store closed that night.



Martin Luther King, Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. It’s one of the most famous speeches ever given: Dr.
