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? 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.2

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 today! But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free? One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination! One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity: One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land! And so weve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead... 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.2 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!

In a sense weve come to our nations capital to cash a check; When the architects of our 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 the unalienable 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 the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds? Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California;