five score years ago a great american sign and proclaimed you know the emancipation that brought a beacon light of hope to plenty of slaves who had been seared called negroes the flame of injustice and now a hundred years have passed and now today we must face the true tragic facts the negro is still not free and though impossible it seems i have a dream the constitution reads and gives the promise that all men be guaranteed pursuit of happiness pride of life and liberty a check of independence cash and decree but it is obvious america s at fault default on its promises gave citizens of all and now we must demand our right to be free cause i have a dream i have dream a dream that one day black boys and black girls will join hands with white boys and girls and we ll stand sisters and brothers yes i have dream a dream that one day mountains and hills be made low and all the world is told the crooked s been made straight till his glory is seen i have a dream to overlook the urgency it would be fatal to deny equality the autumn of freedom the year of 1963 but a beginning of the end of will be but there is something i must say to my people who stand on the threshold into the palace where we go let s not be guilty of violence and wrong deeds cause i have a dream i have dream a dream that one day this nation will rise up and see the truth of this creed and equal all men will be i have a dream a dream that one day with a new meaning we will sing my country tis of thee sweet land of liberty freedom will ring will ring cause i have a dream 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 snow capped 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 i have dream a dream that one day black boys and black girls will join hands with white boys and girls and we ll stand sisters and brothers yes i have dream a dream that one day mountains and hills be made low and all the world is told the crooked s been made straight till his glory is seen i have a dream freedom will ring cause i have a dream though it impossible it seems i have a dream sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood i have a dream 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 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