I Have a Dream – August 28th 1963
Historical clothing design of the day is to remember the day that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech on August 28th 1963 Each day a new design is chosen and an article is posted to highlight the historical significance of the design.
“I Have a Dream” is a 17-minute public speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered on August 28, 1963, in which he called for racial equality and an end to discrimination. The speech, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement. Delivered to over 200,000 civil rights supporters, the speech was ranked the top American speech of the 20th century by a 1999 poll of scholars of public address.
The Speech
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
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 their 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 languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, 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, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us 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. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. 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 lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.
MLK Memorial: Dedication to a dream
Back in 1963, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered
his now famous “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington, the National Mall overflowed with people who’d traveled from near and far seeking equality for all Americans.
Almost a half-century later, visitors to Washington have the chance to bear witness to history and “the dream” as a national memorial to honor King is dedicated Aug. 28, a date that coincides with the 48th anniversary of that groundbreaking march.
President Barack Obama, members of the King family and civil rights leaders, along with a slew of dignitaries and celebrities, are expected for the dedication ceremony on the National Mall, which is open to the public.
Read More at MLK Memorial: Dedication to a dream – baltimoresun.com.
Story by Donna M Owens – The Baltimore Sun
Review – ‘All Labor Has Dignity’: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Fight for Economic Justice
While researching at the Martin Luther King Center in Atlanta in 1992, Washington University professor Michael Honey found an inconspicuous folder marked “King’s Labor Speeches.” He opened it, and found a trove of King’s addresses to labor unions and workers’ rights coalitions—most of which had never been published.
This discovery led to “All Labor Has Dignity”: King’s Speeches on Labor, a collection edited by Honey and released in January by Beacon Press as part of their “King Legacy” series. The book shows an eerily prescient Dr. King, a clear-eyed visionary who speaks prophetically about the host of issues facing our nation today. In the eloquent, mythic language for which he is famous, King lambastes economic forces growing the gap between rich and poor, the massive tax resources used for war spending while domestic programs languished, and the knee-jerk demonizing of progressive social reform as “communist.” He even criticizes the conservative senators—he calls them “Neanderthals”—who abused their filibuster privilege to block meaningful legislative change.
The collection demonstrates that historical considerations of Dr. King’s contributions have overlooked his dogged dedication to the organized labor movement, and his fight on behalf of the working poor across racial divides. I spoke with Honey about King’s work for workers’ rights, the historical context of the speeches, and the relevance of King’s conclusions to ongoing 21st-century American labor disputes.
How do these speeches collected here help us reevaluate King’s legacy?
The book contains 15 different documents from 1957 to 1968, and they all present a somewhat different side of King that most people don’t know about. Almost all of these speeches are unknown to the general public. Until recently, King’s economic justice platform and his relationship with workers and unions has been an almost entirely neglected topic.
Read More via ‘All Labor Has Dignity’: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Fight for Economic Justice – Joe Fassler – Culture – The Atlantic.
Story by Joe Fassler
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