King’s back was to me as he was speaking, but I could hear and see him,” Jones tells TIME. We cannot walk alone.“What most people don’t know is that she shouted to him as he was speaking, ‘Martin! Tell them about the dream! Martin, tell them about the dream!’ I was there.

And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. The marvelous new militancy 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. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. (AP Photo/File)īut there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. Martin Luther King, Jr. with his wife, Coretta, left, and civil rights champion Constance Baker Motley before the start of a Southern Christian Leadership Conference banquet in Birmingham, Ala., in 1965. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. And so we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check that has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'īut we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. speaking to thousands during his 'I Have a Dream' speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, in 1963.

I have a dream speech text