I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

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 that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state sweltering ¹ with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

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 today…

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 ² places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together… ³

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, ⁴ 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, ⁵ 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!’

1. sweltering : sweating.

2. crooked : bent.

3. I have a dream... together : M. L. K. is paraphrasing the Bible here.

4. hamlet : small village.

5. Gentiles : non Jewish people.