He Had a Dream
The summer of 1963 was a pivotal time for civil rights in the United States. The previous fall, in September 1962, an African-American student named James Meredith tried to enroll at the University of Mississippi, but he was prevented from doing so by white students and other Mississippians. Robert Kennedy, then Attorney General, responded by sending some 400 U.S. Marshals, while President Kennedy sent about 3,000 federal troops after the situation on campus turned violent. Riots at the campus left two dead and dozens injured. Meredith finally enrolled in his first class.
President, Kennedy was laying the groundwork for civil rights legislation that would ultimately be pushed through congress by his successor, Lyndon Johnson. Kennedy initially believed the grass roots movement for civil rights would only anger many Southern whites and make it even more difficult to pass civil rights laws through Congress, which was dominated by conservative Southern Democrats. As a result, many civil rights leaders viewed Kennedy as unsupportive of their efforts.
On June 11, 1963, President Kennedy intervened when Alabama Governor George Wallace blocked the doorway to the University of Alabama to stop two African American students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from enrolling. Wallace moved aside after being confronted by federal marshals, Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach and the Alabama National Guard. That evening Kennedy gave a civil rights address on national television and radio. Kennedy proposed what would become the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
On August 28, 1963, 47 years ago today, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King gave his famous "I have a dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The speech was given during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement. Delivered to over 200,000 civil rights supporters, the speech is often considered to be one of the greatest and most notable speeches in history.
In the speech, Dr King said the following:
"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 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 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 a table of brotherhood. This is our hope. 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. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children. Let freedom ring. 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! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Below is a short YouTube clip of the speech. The full speech can be found here.
President, Kennedy was laying the groundwork for civil rights legislation that would ultimately be pushed through congress by his successor, Lyndon Johnson. Kennedy initially believed the grass roots movement for civil rights would only anger many Southern whites and make it even more difficult to pass civil rights laws through Congress, which was dominated by conservative Southern Democrats. As a result, many civil rights leaders viewed Kennedy as unsupportive of their efforts.
On June 11, 1963, President Kennedy intervened when Alabama Governor George Wallace blocked the doorway to the University of Alabama to stop two African American students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from enrolling. Wallace moved aside after being confronted by federal marshals, Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach and the Alabama National Guard. That evening Kennedy gave a civil rights address on national television and radio. Kennedy proposed what would become the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
On August 28, 1963, 47 years ago today, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King gave his famous "I have a dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The speech was given during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement. Delivered to over 200,000 civil rights supporters, the speech is often considered to be one of the greatest and most notable speeches in history.
In the speech, Dr King said the following:
"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 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 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 a table of brotherhood. This is our hope. 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. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children. Let freedom ring. 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! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Below is a short YouTube clip of the speech. The full speech can be found here.