The date of 28th August 1963 will be always remembered because Martin Luther King, an activist in the African-American Civil Rights Movement, gave his speech called I have a dream in front of 250.000 people during the March on Washington, with the help of other leaders and organizations to demand an end to racial segregation in public schools, meaningful civil rights legislation, protection of civil rights workers from police brutality, a minimum wage for all workers and self-government for Washington D.C.
“I have one 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 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”[1]
The 29th August newspapers’ front pages for over the world were covered with Luther King’s speech and its repercussions. As in The Guardian was published, President Kennedy said
“the cause of 20 million Negroes, seeking to secure equal treatment for all, had been advanced by today’s march. He was impressed with the deep fervour and quiet dignity of the thousands who had gathered for the demonstration” (29th August, 1963)[2]
John Lewis[3] spoke in the same speech as Luther King. He was a leader in the American Civil Rights Movement and president of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. About Martin Luther King told that he had the power, the ability, and the capacity to transform those steps on the Lincoln Memorial into a monumental area that will forever be recognized. By speaking the way he did, he educated, he inspired and he informed not just the people there, but people throughout America and unborn generations. That power of conviction changed the struggles against racial segregation that were constant on the past, into a more equal nation. Dr.Martin Luther King and the believers of equality for all mankind knew that the election of a black president would happen as it did on November 4, 2008, with Barack Obama. Otherwise those that were part of the struggle probably never would have thought that this would happen in their lifetime, but it did.
Quotes:
[1] Martin Luther King, I have a dream speech, August 29th 1963, Washington Retrieved December 11, 2011 from http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm
[2] President Kennedy, published in the newspaper The Guardian the 29th August 1963. Published by Richard Scott August 29, 2011. Retrieved December 11, 2011 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2011/aug/29/archive-200000-demonstrate-for-civil-rights-1963
[3]John Lewis (U.S. politician). (2011, December 2). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:56, December 11, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Lewis_(U.S._politician)&oldid=463614966
References:
- I Have a Dream. (2011, December 9). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:28, December 11, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=I_Have_a_Dream&oldid=464979998
- I have a dream. (by Tomás Albadejo, 2004 June). In revista electrónica de estudios filólogos. Retrieved December 11,2011 from http://www.um.es/tonosdigital/znum7/relecturas/Ihaveadream.htm
- I have a dream speech… the impact then and now. (by Cassandra in 2009, January 18). In news talk post. Retrieved December 10, 2011 from http://newstalkpost.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-have-dream-speechthe-impact-then-and.html
Filed under: Multiculturality Tagged: human rights, race, segregation 
