Martin Luther King Jr. - I Have a Dream

Text copyright 1963 by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., copyright renewed 1991 by Coretta Scott King, and the Heirs to the Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr. Jacket art and interior illustrations copyright 2012 by Kadir Nelson. All rights reserved, the Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. Published in the United States by Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Childrens Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Reprinted by arrangement with the Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc., and Writers House, LLC. For any permissions contact Writers House, LLC, 21 West 26th Street, New York, NY 10010. Schwartz & Wade Books and the colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
King, Martin Luther, Jr., 19291968. I have a dream / Martin Luther King, Jr.; illustrated by Kadir Nelson.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-375-85887-1 (trade)
ISBN 978-0-375-95887-8 (glb)
ISBN 978-0-375-98772-4 (ebook)
[1. African AmericansCivil rightsJuvenile literature. 2. Civil rights movementsUnited StatesHistoryJuvenile literature. 3. March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Washington, D.C., 1963Juvenile literature.] I. Title. E195.97.K5A5 2012 323.092dc23 2011044259

Random House Childrens Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.
The illustrations were rendered in oil paint.

A NOTE ABOUT THE TEXT
This excerpt is taken word for word from the speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on August 28, 1963, except for two minor changes made for clarity and the omission of one paragraph, indicated by an ellipsis. The speech in its entirety appears at the back of this book.

v3.1

For Amel, Aya, and Ali. I love you. K.N.

I say to you today, my friends, that 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, 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.

I have a dream that one day 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, and 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 Gods 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 slopes 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.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom [to] 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 Gods 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: