我有一个梦想
一百年前，一位伟大的美国人签署了解放黑奴宣言，今天我们就是在他的雕像前集会。这一庄严宣言犹如灯塔的光芒，给千百万在那摧残生命的不义之火中受煎熬的黑奴带来了希望。它的到来犹如欢乐的黎明，结束了束缚黑人的漫漫长夜。
然而一百年后的今天，黑人还没有得到自由，一百年后的今天，在种族隔离的镣铐和种族歧视的枷锁下，黑人的生活备受压榨。一百年后的今天，黑人仍生活在物质充裕的海洋中一个贫困的孤岛上。一百年后的今天，黑人仍然萎缩在美国社会的角落里，并且意识到自己是故土家园中的流亡者。今天我们在这里集会，就是要把这种骇人听闻的情况公诸于众。
我并非没有注意到，参加今天集会的人中，有些受尽苦难和折磨，有些刚刚走出窄小的牢房，有些由于寻求自由，曾早居住地惨遭疯狂迫害的打击，并在警察暴行的旋风中摇摇欲坠。你们是人为痛苦的长期受难者。坚持下去吧，要坚决相信，忍受不应得的痛苦是一种赎罪。
让我们回到密西西比去，回到阿拉巴马去，回到南卡罗莱纳去，回到佐治亚去，回到路易斯安那去，回到我们北方城市中的贫民区和少数民族居住区去，要心中有数，这种状况是能够也必将改变的。我们不要陷入绝望而不能自拔。
朋友们，今天我对你们说，在此时此刻，我们虽然遭受种种困难和挫折，我仍然有一个梦想。这个梦是深深扎根于美国的梦想中的。
我梦想有一天，这个国家会站立起来，真正实现其信条的真谛：“我们认为这些真理是不言而喻的;人人生而平等。”
我梦想有一天，在佐治亚的红山上，昔日奴隶的儿子将能够和昔日奴隶主的儿子坐在一起，共叙兄弟情谊。
我梦想有一天，甚至连密西西比州这个正义匿迹，压迫成风，如同沙漠般的地方，也将变成自由和正义的绿洲。
我梦想有一天，我的四个孩子将在一个不是以他们的肤色，而是以他们的品格优劣来评判他们的国度里生活。
我今天有一个梦想。
我梦想有一天，阿拉巴马州能够有所转变，尽管该州州长现在仍然满口异议，反对联邦法令，但有着一日，那里的黑人男孩和女孩将能够与白人男孩和女孩情同骨肉，携手并进。
我今天有一个梦想。
我梦想有一天，幽谷上升，高山下降，坎坷曲折之路成坦途，圣光披露，满照人间。
这就是我们的希望。我怀着这种信念回到南方。有了这个信念，我们将能从绝望之岭劈出一块希望之石。有了这个信念，我们将能把这个国家刺耳的争吵声，改变成为一支洋溢手足之情的优美交响曲。有了这个信念，我们将能一起工作，一起祈祷，一起斗争，一起坐牢，一起维护自由;因为我们知道，终有一天，我们是会自由的。
在自由到来的那一天，上帝的所有儿女们将以新的含义高唱这支歌：“我的祖国，美丽的自由之乡，我为您歌唱。您是父辈逝去的地方，您是最初移民的骄傲，让自由之声响彻每个山冈。”
如果美国要成为一个伟大的国家，这个梦想必须实现。让自由之声从新罕布什尔州的巍峨峰巅响起来!让自由之声从纽约州的崇山峻岭响起来!让自由之声从宾夕法尼亚州阿勒格尼山的顶峰响起!让自由之声从科罗拉多州冰雪覆盖的落矶山响起来!让自由之声从加利福尼亚州蜿蜒的群峰响起来!不仅如此，还要让自由之声从佐治亚州的石岭响起来!让自由之声从田纳西州的了望山响起来!让自由之声从密西西比州的每一座丘陵响起来!让自由之声从每一片山坡响起来。
当我们让自由之声响起来，让自由之声从每一个大小村庄、每一个州和每一个城市响起来时，我们将能够加速这一天的到来，那时，上帝的所有儿女，黑人和白人，犹太人和非犹太人，新教徒和天主教徒，都将手携手，合唱一首古老的黑人灵歌：“终于自由啦!终于自由啦!感谢全能的上帝，我们终于自由啦!”
i have a dream
five score years ago, a great american, in whose symbolicshadow we stand today, signed the emancipation proclamation. this momentousdecree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of negro slaves who hadbeen seared in the flames of withering injustice. it came as a joyous daybreakto end the long night of bad captivity.
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 themanacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. one hundred yearslater, the negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vastocean of material prosperity. one hundred years later, the negro is stilllanguished in the corners of american society and finds himself an exile in hisown land. so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
i am not unmindful that some of you have come here out ofgreat trials and tribulations. some of you have come fresh from narrow jailcells. some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left youbattered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of policebrutality. you have been the veterans of creative suffering. continue to workwith the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
go back to mississippi, go back to alabama, go back to southcarolina, go back to georgia, go back to louisiana, go back to the slums andghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can andwill be changed. let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
i say to you today, my friends, so even though we face thedifficulties of today and tomorrow, i still have a dream. it is a dream deeplyrooted in the american dream.
i have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, liveup to 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 one day on the red hills of georgia thesons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sitdown together at the table of brotherhood.
i have a dream that one day even the state of mississippi, astate 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 children will one day live in anation where they will not be judged by the color if their skin but by thecontent of their character.
i have a dream today.
i have a dream that one day down in alabama with itsgovernor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition andnullification, one day right down in alabama little black boys and black girlswill be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sistersand brothers.
i have a dream today.
i have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted,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 shallbe revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
this is our hope. this is the faith that i go back to thesouth with. with this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain ofdespair a stone of hope. with this faith we will be able to transform thejangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. withthis faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggletogether, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowingthat we will be free one day.
this will be the day when all of god’s children will be ableto 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 pilgrims’ pride,
from every mountainside
let freedom ring.
and if america is to be a great nation this must becometrue. 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 ofpennsylvania!
let freedom ring from the snowcapped rockies of colorado!
let freedom ring from the curvaceous slops of california!
but not only that; let freedom ring from stone mountain ofgeorgia!
let freedom ring from lookout mountain of tennessee!
let freedom ring from every hill and molehill ofmississippi!
from every mountainside, let freedom ring!
when we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from everyvillage and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able tospeed up that day when all of god’s children, black men and white men, jews andgentiles, protestants and catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in thewords of the old negro spiritual, “free at last! free at last! thank godalmighty, we are free at last!”