第一篇：馬丁路德金非暴力主張的提出背景

馬丁路德金非暴力主張的提出背景

從當時提出的內部原因來說：

首先，就非暴力思想而言，當時的非暴力主張思想已經成熟，并且傳播到了美國，被馬丁路德金所接受。經過甘地在印度領導的20余年非暴力反抗活動，非暴力運動已經發展成熟，并形成了一套特有的“非暴力思想”。這為馬丁路德金的活動提供了思想前提。1959年，馬丁路德金到印度游歷，并進一步發展了甘地的非暴力策略。隨著矛盾的日益激化，他的非暴力思想也進一步形成，并用于指導接下來的一系列實踐運動。

其次，就非暴力運動本身而言，非暴力運動和暴力運動相比有著很強的優越性。以往的暴力運動給窮苦的人帶來的有可能是解放，但由于給社會帶來的消極影響，政府的殘酷鎮壓，對于參與者更多的是流血和犧牲；而非暴力運動采取了“非暴力不合作”的思想，形式上比暴力反抗溫和得多，同時也會使與政府的矛盾有所緩和，間接地在達到目的的同時減少了人員傷亡和對社會的消極影響。

再次，就當時馬丁路德金個人的情況來說，他的情況也比較適合提出非暴力主張。他提出此項主張的時候正值壯年，有著比較高的社會地位、比較豐富的社會關系、比較大的知識儲備、對于非暴力主張的充分認識和進行非暴力運動的激情。這對他提出非暴力主張和把非暴力主張應用于實踐是很有幫助的。

從當時提出的外部原因來說：

就當時黑人的生存狀況而言，低下的生存狀況很大程度上刺激了黑人運動。許多資料證明當時在美國，黑人面臨著社會的種族隔離政策、高失業率以及公民權的缺失等諸多問題。

就當時國民的合作程度而言，馬丁路德金的非暴力主張得到了很多人的贊同。在1965年在華盛頓的“華盛頓工作與自由游行”活動將黑人運動推向了高潮，馬丁路德金也是在此時發表了有25萬現場聽眾的《我有一個夢想》著名演講。就當時黑人運動的情況而言，當時黑人運動高漲。1960年，黑人學生在發起的入座運動很大程度上帶動了黑人的民權解放運動。大批黑人意識到要為自己的權利而斗爭。高漲的黑人運動給了馬丁路德金一個實現自己主張的機會。

就當時政府的態度而言，肯尼迪總統對馬丁路德金的行動給予了一定程度上的支持。1963年春天，金和南方基督教領袖會議領導人在阿拉巴馬州的伯明翰領導了群眾示威。此地以白人警方強烈反對種族融合而著稱。徒手的黑人示威者與裝備著警犬和消防水槍的警察之間的沖突，作為報紙頭條新聞遍及世界各地。總統肯尼迪對伯明翰的抗議做出了回應，他向國會提出放寬民權立法的要求，這促成了一系列法案的通過：1964年國會通過了《民權法案》（Civil Rights Act of 1964），1965年國會通過了《選舉法案》（Voting Rights Act of 1965）。這些法案很大程度上提高了黑人、婦女和少數群體的地位，使聯邦政府承擔更大的責任去保護這些曾被剝奪公民權的人民，以免他們受到歧視。比較寬松的政府環境給了馬丁路德金提出非暴力主張的空間。

總之，就當時的外部條件而言，政府對這樣的運動采取了“寬容”甚至支持的態度，沒有過分地鎮壓；而當時黑人運動處在一個高峰期，非暴力運動有著強有力的群眾基礎。從內部條件而言，非暴力思想當時已經成熟并且被馬丁路德金接受，而

馬丁路德金又有條件去提出非暴力主張去發展黑人運動。基于以上背景，馬丁路德金提出了非暴力主張。

第二篇：馬丁路德金 中英文背景介紹

On Monday, January 16, Americans will pay tribute to the legacy of slain civil rights leader Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.in the annual national holiday that celebrates his birthday(January 15).More than 50 years ago, King campaigned across the United States, leading non-violent marches and demonstrations for equal rights for African Americans.1月15日是被刺身亡的美國黑人民權領袖馬.路德.金的生日。而馬丁.路德.金生日之后的星期一則是法定的馬丁.路德.金紀念日-美國的一個全國性節日。50多年前，馬丁.路德.金走遍美國各地，領導非洲裔美國人通過非暴力游行示威來爭取平等權利，這場運動對美國產生了深遠的影響。

Martin Luther King Jr.'s rise as a civil rights leader began in 1955 when he spearheaded the drive to desegregate public buses in Montgomery, Alabama.1955年，馬丁.路德.金在美國南部阿拉巴馬州蒙哥馬利市率先發起了一場爭取廢除公共汽車上種族歧視規定的運動。從那時起，馬丁.路德.金逐步躍升為一位民權領袖。

By August 1963, Reverend King's push for equal rights had become a national movement.That month, more than 250,000 people took part in the March on Washington.Led by King, it was designed to pressure lawmakers to pass a civil rights bill that would end racial discrimination.Former civil rights activist Roger Wilkins was there on the day marchers gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial.1963年8月，馬丁.路德.金推動平等權利的努力擴展成為一場全國范圍的運動。當時，超過25萬人參加了在首都華盛頓進行的游行。在馬丁.路德.金的領導下，這場游行向國會議員施壓，要求通過民權法案，結束種族歧視。前民權活動家羅杰.威爾金斯當時就在林肯紀念堂外聆聽馬丁.路德.金的講話。

“It was a glorious warm summer day in which people were rejuvenated,” Wilkins recalled.“There was just a good feeling of a country coming together.You really felt, I did for the first time in my life, the weight of America's conscience.”

威爾金斯說：“那是一個溫和而美好夏日，令人精神煥發，有一種全國團結一致的美好感覺。我第一次感到，美國人良心的重量。”

“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.”

馬丁.路德.金說：“我有一個夢，有一天，我的四個孩子將生活在這樣一個國家，這個國家不用膚色，而是按照品格來衡量我的孩子。”

It was these non-violent protests and his speeches that drove the civil rights movement forward, and kept the nation focused on the issue of equality.正是這些非暴力的抗議活動和馬丁.路德.金的講話推動民權運動向前發展，并讓全國都關注平等問題。

King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, and that same year President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act and the following year the Voting Rights Act.The measures outlawed racial segregation in public places and discriminatory practices that prevented blacks from voting.Martin Luther King's final campaign was in Memphis, Tennessee in March and April of 1968.He led a march in support of striking sanitation workers.But the protest turned violent when young militants began looting stores.King was distraught and vowed to return to Memphis to lead a peaceful march.On the night of April 4, 1968 at the Lorraine Motel, King was assassinated.馬丁.路德.金最后一次活動地點是1968年三四月的田納西州孟菲斯。他帶領游行隊伍支持環衛工人的罷工。但抗議活動演變成暴力沖突，年輕的激進分子開始搶劫商店。馬丁.路德.金悲痛欲絕，發誓要返回孟菲斯發起一場和平游行。1968年4月4日馬丁.路德.金在洛林汽車旅館被人暗殺。

Forty years later, King's life is celebrated with many of his dreams realized, including the election of Barack Obama as the nation's first African American president.40年后，馬丁.路德.金的許多夢想都得以實現，包括奧巴馬成為美國第一位黑人總統。

第三篇：馬丁路德金演講稿

August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.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 languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.And so we've 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.And 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 quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.Nineteen sixty-three is not an end but a beginning.Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights.The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice.In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.We must ever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.We cannot walk alone.And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.We cannot turn back.There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, 'When will you be satisfied?' We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.No, no, we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.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 persecutions 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.And 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 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, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, 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, 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.

第四篇：馬丁路德金演講稿

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greapest demonstration for freedom in the `istory of our nation.Five score years ago, a great American, in wh/se 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 N%gro 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.And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.In a sense we've 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.And so, we've 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 quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning.And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights.The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.We cannot walk alone.And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.We cannot turn back.There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

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.And some of you have come from areas where your quest--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.And 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 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, 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 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, and 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.And this will be the 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 Pilgrim's pride, From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.And 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 snow-capped 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 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!

第五篇：馬丁路德金演講

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 languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.In a sense we've 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.And so, we've 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 quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning.And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights.The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.We cannot walk alone.And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.We cannot turn back.There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

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.And some of you have come from areas where your quest--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.And 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 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, 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 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, and 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.And this will be the 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 Pilgrim's pride，From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.And 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 snow-capped 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 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!