I say to you today, my friends, 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 and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident; thal all men are created equal".
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.
I have a dream that one day down in Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and little 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 plains, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all the 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 father died, land of 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 curvacious slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from the Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and mole hill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring, and when this happens,
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"!
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ANNOTATIONS:
OPPRESSION- prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or control.
INJUSTICE- lack of fairness or justice.
EQUAL-a person or thing considered to be the same as another in status or quality.
Oppression and injustice has been around for ages in America. They have oppressed black people and have enslaved them for a long time. It is evident that people of color weren't treated as equals.
SWELTERING- uncomfortably hot.
OASIS- a fertile spot in a desert, where water is found.
He used oasis as symbolism for freedom and justice because an oasis is also often a symbol of hope. He used sweltering to describe injustice and oppression. Amidst all the heat of oppression and injustice, there will always be an oasis waiting just around the corner
"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."
He dreamt that someday the race of a person isn't the basis to determine who they are but from their character. He dreamt this for his children, which was heartbreaking because it means that he has give up hope that this equality will happen in his lifetime.
VICIOUS-deliberately cruel or violent.
RACIST- a person who shows or feels discrimination or prejudice against people of other races, or who believes that a particular race is superior to another.
Alabama had been known as a place for racist people and he had dreamed that one day children whatever race they may be wil be able to look past the color of a person's skin and treat each other kindly as brothers and sisters.
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"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 curvacious slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from the Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and mole hill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring,"
In this paragraph he is saying that freedom should ring in every corner, every street, and everywhere in America for America to blossom.
SUMMARY AND QUESTIONS:
SUMMARY: The speech is all about how Martin Luther King envisioned America as a great country free of any oppression, racism, injustice, prejudice about people of color. He dreamt that someday children would be able to play, hold hands and treat people as their brothers and sisters regardless of their skin color, that someday people of color would be treated as equals. He dreamt of a country with no more racism, a country ruled with peace and equality.
QUESTIONS:
1.How did the americans treated people of color back then?
- What made them think that skin color was a status to be based on?
3.What was the dream Martin Luther King rooted for?
OUTLINE:
1.The American Dream
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- The Struggles of People of Color
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