What was Martin Luther King Jr. trying to Accomplish in his Speech, “I Have A Dream”
... 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.” (King 2). On August 28, 1963, King gave his speech standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before a huge audience gathered in Washington, D.C. The figure of Lincoln was behind standing him. “Five score years ago, the great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon of 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.” (King 456). Here he argued that even after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, the life of the Negro is still unchanged. King also states that even after the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence was wrote, American History remains unchanged. The African American was given false hope. False hope that their lives would be changed and they would become free. This is what the Constitution was supposed to solve. Equality was supposed to evolve from this. “This note was a promise that all men-yes, Black men as well as white men-would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursue of happiness.” (King 456). Martin Luther King Jr. also goes on to say that everyone must be in this fight together. “We cannot walk alone.” (King 457). Everyone should always march ahead, never turn back. He tells everyone never to be satisfied until you reach what you have been fighting for all along. He tells everyone not to be satisfied as long as their children are stripped of selfhood and robbed of their dignity. King argued that he will not be satfied until Negros in Mississippi can vote. He also wanted to stop Negros from being the victims of unspeakable police brutalities. “No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.” (King 458). Martin Luther King Jr. knew that his dream would be difficult to accomplish, but with the help of all Americans it would be successful. He had faith in the American people to achieve this goal. It was almost as if we would one day realize that yes all men should be created equal and fight for that to happen. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream to spread freedom from North to South, East to West, but his undying passion was to unite the nation as one. “Go back to Mississippi, and go back to Alabama. Go back to South Carolina. Go back to Georgia. Go back to Louisiana. Go back to the slums of our Northern cities knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.” (King 458). He was optimistic that one day his children would live in a world where discrimination did not exist. “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.” (King 458). People, whether black or white, rich or poor, young or old, are all God’s children and should one day all be able to work together, suffer together, or fight for freedom together. He wanted all children, whether black or white, to join hand...