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 glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together.
"This is our hope.
This is the faith with which I return to the South.
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 when all of God's
children
will be able to sing with a new meaning,
"My country, 'tis of thee,
sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died,
land of the pilgrim's pride,
from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation
this must become true.
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 snowcapped
Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous
peaks 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 every molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside,
let freedom ring.
When we let 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!"
(Excerpts from the speech, "I Have A
Dream",
by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.)
