Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we
stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came
as a great beacon light of hope (METAPHOR)
to millions of Negro slaves, who had been seared in the flames of
withering injustice (METAPHOR). It came as a joyous
daybreak (METAPHOR) to end the long
night of their captivity(METAPHOR).
But one hundred years later, the Negro still
is not free. One hundred years later , the
life of the Negro is still sadly
crippled by the manacles of segregation and
the chains of discrimination (METAPHOR). One
hundred years later , the Negro lives
on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast
ocean of material prosperity (METAPHOR). One
hundred years later the Negro(ANAPHORA) is still languished in the
corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so
we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash
a check (METAPHOR). When the architects of our republic
wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of
Independence, they were signing a promissory note (METAPHOR)
to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men,
yes, black men as well as white men,
(AMPLIFICATION) would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note,
insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred
obligation, America has given the Negro people a
bad check (METAPHOR), a check which has come
back(AMPLIFICATION) marked "insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the
bank of justice (METAPHOR) is bankrupt. We
refuse to believe (ANAPHORA) that there are insufficient
funds in the great vaults of opportunity (METAPHOR)
of this nation. And so we have come to cash this check (METAPHOR), a
check that will give us (AMPLIFICATION) upon demand the
riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce
urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to
take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism (METAPHOR ).
Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.
Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate (ALLITERATION) valley
of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice(METAPHOR). Now
is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands
of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood(METAPHOR). Now
is the time (ANAPHORA) to make justice a reality for all
of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.
This sweltering summer (ALLITERATION)
of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an
invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end
but a beginning.
Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be
content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as
usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is
granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt (METAPHOR)
will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright
day of justice (METAPHOR) emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on
the warm threshold which leads
into the palace of justice(METAPHOR). In the
process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.
Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking
from the cup of bitterness and hatred ( METAPHOR).
We must ever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline (METAPHOR). We
must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into
physical violence. Again and again we must (ANAPHORA) rise to the
majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy (ALLITERATION)
which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all
white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence
here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied
up with our destiny . And they have come to realize
that their freedom is inextricably bound to our
freedom (PARALLELISM). We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march
ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of
civil rights, " When will you be satisfied?" (HYPOPHORA)
We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police
brutality. We can never be satisfied as
long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in
the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We
cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi
cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.
No, no, we are not satisfied and we will not be
satisfied (CONDUPLICATIO) until justice
rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream (SIMILE).
I am not unmindful (LITOTES) that some of you have come here out of great trials
and tribulations (ALLITERATION). Some
of youhave come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some
of you (ANAPHORA) have come from areas where your quest
for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecutions and
staggered by the winds of police brutality (METAPHOR).
You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the
faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina,
go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of
our northern cities (ASYNDETON), knowing that somehow this situation can and will
be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair (METAPHOR),
I say to you today, my friends.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, 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 (EPITHET).
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(CONDUPLICATIO) will be able to sit down together
at the table of brotherhood (METAPHOR).
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 (METAPHOR),
will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice (METAPHOR).
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 (ANTITHESIS). I have a dream today !
I have a dream that one day , down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his
lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right
down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will
be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls (CONDUPLICATIO)
as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today (ANAPHORA)!
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 (PARALLELISM).
This is our hope. This is the faith that I will 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 (METAPHOR). With this faith we
will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful
symphony of brotherhood (METAPHOR) . With
this faith (ANAPHORA) we will be able to
work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together,
to stand up for freedom together (PATRALLELISM) 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 !" (EPITHET) 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.
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 molehill of Mississippi, from
every mountainside, let freedom ring ! (ANAPHORA)
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it
ring from every village and every hamlet, from
every (ANAPHORA) 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 (ALLITERATION), Protestants
and Catholics ( PARALLELISM ) ,
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." (DIACOPE)
