“I Have A Dream” by Martin Luther King, Jr,

Today, we talked about Martin Luther King’s speech entitled “I Have A Dream”. King Martin Luther delivered this speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The speech highlighted the fact that in spite at the end of slavery, the black Americans still did not live as a free people. This can be quoted from his speech where “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice.” (pg. 53, para. 1). The King also told his audience “Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood”. (pg. 54, para. 5). In a way, he urged them not to rest until such equality has been achieved. He also told his audience to maintain dignity, to fight physical force with the force of the soul. The King also urged his listeners “not to be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.” (pg. 55, para. 10). The King also repeated the phrase “I have a dream”, stemmed from the American dream, where it is believed that all human beings are created equally. This equality according to the King, should translate into a nation where children “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” (pg. 55, para. 13). Apart from that, the King also stressed that in order for America to become a truly great nation, true freedom must be developed throughout its land. He told that freedom must be allowed to develop from every mountainside. He cited various mountain ranges across the United States from where the bells of freedom must be heard. Concluding his speech, the King envisioned a nation of multicultural citizens holding hands singing “Free at last! Free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!” (pg. 56, para. 16). Overall, the King’s speech is more to achieving social rights and mainting the equality betweem people. It is a very interesting speech where he made me to understand the life of people in America. I too heard the audio speech and it is really different from the way I read.