The bombing of our homes will not dissuade us The beating and killing of our clergymen and young people will not divert us. The wanton release of their known murderers would not discourage us.
We are on the move now. Like an idea whose time has come, not even the marching of mighty armies can halt us. We are moving to the land of freedom I know you are asking today, 'How long will it take?
I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because truth crushed to earth will rise again. How long? Not long, because no lie can live forever. Not long, because you shall reap what you sow. Not long. Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne, Yet that scaffold sways the future, And, behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadow, Keeping watch above his own.
Not long, Because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Not long, because Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword; His truth is marching on. But we must keep going. Uh huh And I smiled to see in the newspaper photographs of many a decade ago, the faces so bright, so solemn, of our valiant heroes, the people of Montgomery.
To this list may be added the names of all those Yes who have fought and, yes, died in the nonviolent army of our day: Medgar Evers, Speak three civil rights workers in Mississippi last summer, Uh huh William Moore, as has already been mentioned, Yes, sir the Reverend James Reeb, Yes, sir Jimmy Lee Jackson, Yes, sir and four little girls in the church of God in Birmingham on Sunday morning.
Yes, sir But in spite of this, we must go on and be sure that they did not die in vain. Yes, sir The pattern of their feet as they walked through Jim Crow barriers in the great stride toward freedom is the thunder of the marching men of Joshua, Yes, sir and the world rocks beneath their tread. Yes, sir The battle is in our hands. Speak It was normalcy in Birmingham Yes that led to the murder on Sunday morning of four beautiful, unoffending, innocent girls. It was normalcy on Highway 80 Yes, sir that led state troopers to use tear gas and horses and billy clubs against unarmed human beings who were simply marching for justice.
It is normalcy all over Alabama Yeah that prevents the Negro from becoming a registered voter. Yes No, we will not allow Alabama Go ahead to return to normalcy. The only normalcy that we will settle for is the normalcy that allows judgment to run down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. Yes, sir The only normalcy that we will settle for is the normalcy of brotherhood, the normalcy of true peace, the normalcy of justice.
I must admit to you that there are still some difficult days ahead. We are still in for a season of suffering in many of the black belt counties of Alabama, many areas of Mississippi, many areas of Louisiana. I must admit to you that there are still jail cells waiting for us, and dark and difficult moments.
But if we will go on with the faith that nonviolence and its power can transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows, we will be able to change all of these conditions. Our aim must never be to defeat or humiliate the white man, but to win his friendship and understanding. We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience. And that will be a day not of the white man, not of the black man. That will be the day of man as man.
How long will justice be crucified, Speak and truth bear it? Not long, All right. Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
Textual Authentication. Voices of Democracy: The U. Oratory Project Shawn J. Web Accessibility Privacy Notice. Speak [Applause] [4] Now it is not an accident that one of the great marches of American history should terminate in Montgomery, Alabama. Yes, sir [6] Once more the method of nonviolent resistance Yes was unsheathed from its scabbard, and once again an entire community was mobilized to confront the adversary. Yes, sir [8] On our part we must pay our profound respects to the white Americans who cherish their democratic traditions over the ugly customs and privileges of generations and come forth boldly to join hands with us.
Yes, sir [Applause] [9] Our whole campaign in Alabama has been centered around the right to vote. Yes, sir [13] Thus, the threat of the free exercise of the ballot by the Negro and the white masses alike Uh huh resulted in the establishment of a segregated society.
He said: We have come over a way That with tears hath been watered. Yes, sir We have come treading our paths Through the blood of the slaughtered. Yes, sir Out of the gloomy past, Yes, sir Till now we stand at last Where the white gleam Of our bright star is cast.
Speak, sir [15] Today I want to tell the city of Selma, Tell them, Doctor today I want to say to the state of Alabama, Yes, sir today I want to say to the people of America and the nations of the world, that we are not about to turn around. Yes, sir [16] Yes, we are on the move and no wave of racism can stop us. Yes, sir [17] Let us therefore continue our triumphant march Uh huh to the realization of the American dream.
Speak, Doctor [21] Let us march on ballot boxes Let us march until the Wallaces of our nation tremble away in silence. Tell it Up to the walls of Jericho they marched, spear in hand. Uh huh [27] The battle is in our hands. Yes, sir [29] My people, my people, listen. How long? 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 state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of 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, d o wn in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. 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.
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with. 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.
And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with 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. And 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 slopes of California. Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. And when this happens, and when we allow 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! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! Research and Education Institute at Stanford University has audio of the entire address here. Quotation marks are excluded from part of this moment in the text because King's rendering of Isaiah does not precisely follow the KJV version from which he quotes e. King's rendering of Isaiah , however, is precisely quoted from the KJV. Top American Speeches. Online Speech Bank.
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