Aug.28, 1963
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 to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to 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 the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. 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, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, 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, live up 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 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 children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color if their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day down in Alabama 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 as sisters and 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 shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
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.
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 pilgrims’ pride,
From every mountainside
Let freedom ring.
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. 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 snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slops 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!
When we let 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!”
我有壹個夢想
壹百年前，壹位偉大的美國人簽署了解放黑奴宣言，今天我們就是在他的雕像前集會。這壹莊嚴宣言猶如燈塔的光芒，給千百萬在那摧殘生命的不義之火中受煎熬的黑奴帶來了希望。它的到來猶如歡樂的黎明，結束了束縛黑人的漫漫長夜。
然而壹百年後的今天，黑人還沒有得到自由，壹百年後的今天，在種族隔離的鐐銬和種族歧視的枷鎖下，黑人的生活備受壓榨。壹百年後的今天，黑人仍生活在物質充裕的海洋中壹個貧困的孤島上。壹百年後的今天，黑人仍然萎縮在美國社會的角落裏，並且意識到自己是故土家園中的流亡者。今天我們在這裏集會，就是要把這種駭人聽聞的情況公諸於眾。
我並非沒有註意到，參加今天集會的人中，有些受盡苦難和折磨，有些剛剛走出窄小的牢房，有些由於尋求自由，曾早居住地慘遭瘋狂迫害的打擊，並在警察暴行的旋風中搖搖欲墜。妳們是人為痛苦的長期受難者。堅持下去吧，要堅決相信，忍受不應得的痛苦是壹種贖罪。
讓我們回到密西西比去，回到阿拉巴馬去，回到南卡羅萊納去，回到佐治亞去，回到路易斯安那去，回到我們北方城市中的貧民區和少數民族居住區去，要心中有數，這種狀況是能夠也必將改變的。我們不要陷入絕望而不能自拔。
朋友們，今天我對妳們說，在此時此刻，我們雖然遭受種種困難和挫折，我仍然有壹個夢想。這個夢是深深紮根於美國的夢想中的。
我夢想有壹天，這個國家會站立起來，真正實現其信條的真諦：“我們認為這些真理是不言而喻的；人人生而平等。”
我夢想有壹天，在佐治亞的紅山上，昔日奴隸的兒子將能夠和昔日奴隸主的兒子坐在壹起，***敘兄弟情誼。
我夢想有壹天，甚至連密西西比州這個正義匿跡，壓迫成風，如同沙漠般的地方，也將變成自由和正義的綠洲。
我夢想有壹天，我的四個孩子將在壹個不是以他們的膚色，而是以他們的品格優劣來評判他們的國度裏生活。
我今天有壹個夢想。
我夢想有壹天，阿拉巴馬州能夠有所轉變，盡管該州州長現在仍然滿口異議，反對聯邦法令，但有著壹日，那裏的黑人男孩和女孩將能夠與白人男孩和女孩情同骨肉，攜手並進。
我今天有壹個夢想。
我夢想有壹天，幽谷上升，高山下降，坎坷曲折之路成坦途，聖光披露，滿照人間。
這就是我們的希望。我懷著這種信念回到南方。有了這個信念，我們將能從絕望之嶺劈出壹塊希望之石。有了這個信念，我們將能把這個國家刺耳的爭吵聲，改變成為壹支洋溢手足之情的優美交響曲。有了這個信念，我們將能壹起工作，壹起祈禱，壹起鬥爭，壹起坐牢，壹起維護自由；因為我們知道，終有壹天，我們是會自由的。
在自由到來的那壹天，上帝的所有兒女們將以新的含義高唱這支歌：“我的祖國，美麗的自由之鄉，我為您歌唱。您是父輩逝去的地方，您是最初移民的驕傲，讓自由之聲響徹每個山岡。”
如果美國要成為壹個偉大的國家，這個夢想必須實現。讓自由之聲從新罕布什爾州的巍峨峰巔響起來！讓自由之聲從紐約州的崇山峻嶺響起來！讓自由之聲從賓夕法尼亞州阿勒格尼山的頂峰響起！讓自由之聲從科羅拉多州冰雪覆蓋的落磯山響起來！讓自由之聲從加利福尼亞州蜿蜒的群峰響起來！不僅如此，還要讓自由之聲從佐治亞州的石嶺響起來！讓自由之聲從田納西州的了望山響起來！讓自由之聲從密西西比州的每壹座丘陵響起來！讓自由之聲從每壹片山坡響起來。
當我們讓自由之聲響起來，讓自由之聲從每壹個大小村莊、每壹個州和每壹個城市響起來時，我們將能夠加速這壹天的到來，那時，上帝的所有兒女，黑人和白人，猶太人和非猶太人，新教徒和天主教徒，都將手攜手，合唱壹首古老的黑人靈歌：“終於自由啦！終於自由啦！感謝全能的上帝，我們終於自由啦！”