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Summary
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in I Have a Dream Speech, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
America’s Promises and Potential
The Collective Fight Against Racism
Dreams, Despair, and Faith
The Uses of Nonviolent Resistance
Summary
Analysis
Martin Luther King Jr. announces how proud he is to be at the March on Washington—a rally that he believes will be remembered forever as “the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of [the United States].”
Martin Luther King is addressing an audience of 250,000 at the 1963 March on Washington. Though King had delivered versions of this speech to smaller gatherings over the last year or so, the March on Washington was unprecedented in scope. It turned out to be one of the largest and most iconic protests in American history, a show of strength in the fight against racism and an inspiration to many Americans to fight to live up to their country’s potential.
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“Five score” (or one hundred) years ago, Abraham Lincoln—a great American whose “symbolic shadow” looms over the rally in the form of the Lincoln Memorial—signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This was a historic order that offered hope to millions of enslaved Black Americans. The Proclamation was seen as a “joyous daybreak” at the end of a “long night of […] captivity.”
King delivered his address from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, which looks out on the National Mall and the Washington Monument. So not only were he and the protestors at the March on Washington standing literally in Lincoln’s shadow—they were also standing metaphorically in the shadow of the actions he took to end slavery. King telegraphs this to his audience by essentially quoting the opening lines of Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address, which began: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Looking at King’s speech through the lens of sermon structure (he was a preacher, after all), Lincoln’s words could be viewed as the sermon’s epigraph (typically a Bible verse that the sermon goes on to analyze). Here, the epigraph is the words of Lincoln, who is renowned and praised for his role in ending slavery, although the speech will go on to examine all the work left to be done to create true equality.
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Though the Emancipation Proclamation ended the institution of slavery, Black Americans still aren’t truly free. Over a century later, the “manacles of segregation” and the “chains of discrimination” still keep Black people in America yoked to the burdens of racism and injustice.
Even though the Emancipation Proclamation legally abolished slavery, King asserts that Black Americans are still not free. The imagery of chains and manacles (which are associated with slavery) positions racist Jim Crow laws (which mandated segregation and discrimination) as just another form of enslavement. In other words, while slavery was officially over in 1963, King is suggesting that America has simply come up with new methods of oppressing Black Americans, finding unjust loopholes in the promises of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Themes
Black Americans live on a “lonely island of poverty” in the middle of a vast ocean of prosperity. They are ostracized even in their own country.
In King’s metaphor, America has placed its Black population on an island of poverty and social degradation. This happened by confining Black Americans to ghettos and by instituting discriminatory policies that prevented social and economic mobility. Under Jim Crow laws, Black Americans weren’t allowed in white spaces, exiling them from the rest of society. Even though Black Americans were surrounded on all sides by opportunities for prosperity and justice, American politics and social norms prevented them from even dipping a toe into the wealth and opportunity that white Americans enjoyed all around them.
Themes
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The attendees at the March on Washington have come to the capital “to cash a check.” The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were “promissory note[s]” to every American—Black and white—entitling them to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But America has “defaulted” on this note and given Black Americans a bad check—a check that has come back marked “insufficient funds.” King refuses to believe that, in the “great vaults” of American opportunity, there are not sufficient funds to bestow “the riches of freedom” unto all Americans.
In this passage, King introduces an extended metaphor in which America’s founding documents are compared to a bad check. Just as the writer of a bad check promises funds that aren’t available, the founders promised a freedom that would not be a reality for centuries to come. While white Americans were able to immediately cash this check and enjoy their freedom, whenever Black Americans try to fight for freedom—or, metaphorically, to cash their checks—they’re turned down. However, King doesn’t believe that “insufficient funds” is a plausible excuse—unlike money, freedom is not a finite quantity. He believes that there is endless freedom and opportunity in America, and that Black Americans should not give up on cashing their checks, because freedom is something they are owed.
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King wants to remind the whole of America of the “urgency” of the moment. There is no time left for taking things slowly; the promises of American democracy—including justice—must be a reality “for all God’s children” right away.
At the time of this speech, Black Americans had been exiled socially and politically for almost two centuries while white Americans enjoyed ever-increasing prosperity and opportunity. After 200 years, expecting things to gradually get better just wasn’t good enough for King. To underscore his demand for urgency, King uses the rhetorical device of pathos to appeal to his listeners’ emotions. By invoking the idea that white and Black Americans are all children of God, King—a Baptist preacher—takes his speech into the realm of a sermon, helping his audience to feel justified in their demands not just on an intellectual level, but also on a spiritual one.
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The “sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent” must come to an end, ushering in an “invigorating autumn” of justice and equity. Until Black Americans receive equal rights, there will be no peace in America. It is time for a revolt to “shake the foundation” of the country.
In this passage, King’s language mirrors the opening lines of William Shakespeare’s play Richard III: “Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer…” But King reverses the seasons, suggesting that the period of discontentment in America isn’t a chilly winter but an unbearably scorching summer. (The speech was delivered in August, so this rhetorical rearrangement makes sense.) When King suggests that there won’t be peace in America until there is sweeping change, it could be viewed as a threat (perhaps a threat that Black activists won’t rest until they get justice), but it can also be seen as a call to action. If the audience wants there to be peace and calm, then they have to fight for the change that will allow peace to reign—ceasing to fight would only surrender to the miserable “sweltering summer.”
Themes
But to everyone fighting for justice, King warns, there can be no violence or hatred in the civil rights movement—dignity and discipline must prevail in “creative protests,” and demonstrations must never descend into physical violence. King urges his listeners to meet “physical force with soul force” and remain in the “majestic heights” of righteous nonviolent resistance no matter the provocation.
King knows that by invoking the language of scorching heat and urging a foundation-shifting revolution, he’s firing people up. But he doesn’t want that fiery energy to translate into violence or chaos. Instead, King wants his listeners to feel validated in their belief that the time for radical change is now, and he wants them to channel that belief into “creative protest.” In a 1960 speech, King dubbed the tactic of staging sit-ins at segregated lunch counters “creative protest.” He was impressed that the young people leading the sit-ins came up with a protest idea that was peaceful, symbolically powerful, and clear in its message: that Black Americans would not tolerate segregation. By subtly invoking that speech with the term “creative protest,” King reinforces a throughline of his thought: that the movement will succeed only as long as activists meet violence with creativity and love. Rather than giving into bitterness and violence, King suggests that his listeners transform their rage into nonviolent action.
Themes
King applauds “the marvelous new militancy” among Black Americans—but at the same time, he urges his audience not to begin harboring a distrust of all white people. Many white Americans have realized that their fates are tied to the fates of Black Americans—the freedoms of both groups are “inextricably bound,” and neither race can “walk alone.”
When King uses the word “militancy” in this passage, he’s not talking about violence or force: he’s talking about organization and solidarity. He is moved by how Black Americans have united in their refusal to tolerate injustice any longer—and he wants white Americans to join them, especially since many whites are also ready for an end to racial injustice, having realized that no one can truly be free until everyone is. For this reason, King wants Black Americans to reject violence and use rhetoric and protest tactics that bring others into the movement, rather than scaring them off. Though King’s views would change later in life, at this moment, he was committed entirely to an interracial, nonviolent movement for civil rights.
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As these groups walk together, they must vow to march ahead and never look back. There can be no satisfaction in any part of America until Black Americans are no longer victimized by police, until they are allowed to enjoy the same accommodations as white Americans, and until they have full social mobility. Until “justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream,” the movement for equality must not stop.
In the previous passage, King was speaking to his Black listeners as he urged them to accept the help of white allies in the struggle for civil rights. In this passage, however, he implicitly addresses his white listeners and urges them to remain committed to the fight for equal rights. He believes that without the help of white allies, whose social position protects them from police brutality, the civil rights movement cannot succeed. He therefore asks white Americans to put their bodies on the line for their Black brethren and to stay in the fight until the cooling waters of justice have washed away the intolerable heat of injustice.
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King says that he knows how much attendees at the march have suffered—many have been incarcerated, persecuted, and victimized by police brutality. But King urges these individuals to keep their heads held high. “Unearned suffering,” King says, “is redemptive.”
In this passage, King acknowledges the despair his listeners are facing, but he uses this moment to reframe the “unearned suffering” Black Americans have endured for centuries. By saying that this sort of suffering is “redemptive,” King implicitly invokes the suffering that Jesus endured on the cross, which resulted in the redemption of mankind. In a 1960 essay on suffering, King suggested that while suffering can lead to bitterness, a person can also use the experience of suffering to transform themselves into a more dedicated crusader for justice and a more loving and empathetic person. To endure suffering for the cause of civil rights is Christlike, in that those who embrace suffering to fight for change will spare future generations the same suffering.
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King urges his listeners to return to their home states across the nation, from Alabama to the “ghettos of the northern cities,” knowing that America can and will be changed. There is no time to despair—it is time to face the challenges of the moment head on.
King suggests that there’s no room for hopelessness in the movement for civil rights. Even though things seem bleak, he has faith in what he and his comrades are doing, and he hopes that this speech—given to hundreds of thousands of listeners from all over the country—can bring hope to all the different places that need it. It’s up to the audience to spread the faith that King is trying to inspire across the nation. He can’t make change alone—no individual can. But with collective faith (and the action that faith inspires), America can transform.
Themes
Even though the fight will be hard, King has a dream: a dream rooted in the American dream. He dreams that one day, America will “live out the true meaning of its creed”—it will at last embody the foundational truth of its creation, the idea that all men are created equal.
In this passage, King begins laying out the dream that gives this speech its name. He starts modestly, stating that the foundation of his dream for America is actually based on America’s own founding dream for itself: to become a place where all people are treated equally. Implicitly, this calls attention to the fact that, nearly two centuries after the country’s inception, this ideal is still nothing but a “dream.” Something written into the country’s constitution shouldn’t be a fanciful wish—it should be a concrete fact of daily life for every American citizen.
Themes
King dreams that some day, the sons of former slaves and former slave-owners will be able to join together as brothers. He dreams that places like Mississippi, though currently “sweltering with the heat of injustice,” will soon become cool oases of freedom.
In this passage, King expands the bounds of his dream for America. Now, his dream isn’t just rooted in the promises America has already laid out itself: it’s rooted in all Americans coming together in brotherhood and freedom. In other words, he doesn’t stop at a baseline of begrudging equality—he wants people to genuinely love and respect one another and overcome their differences. When King uses emotional language in this passage, he’s leaning on the rhetorical device of pathos—an appeal to the audience’s feelings. He’s trying to inspire the audience to dream along with him by arousing sentimental images of brotherhood and forgiveness. When he pivots back to the contrasting language of sweltering heat and redemptive coolness at the end of this passage, he’s engaging the audience’s senses as well as their feelings. King’s speech, especially in passages like this one, strikes a careful balance between a rousing call to action and an intimate portrait of what America can look like if people all across the country commit themselves to justice.
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King also dreams that, one day, his four children will live in a nation that does not judge them by the color of their skin, but “by the content of the character.”
In what is perhaps the most famous passage of this speech, King makes his dream more personal, moving from general brotherhood to the specific reality that he wants for his children. By bringing up his dreams for his own children, King is reminding the audience that he’s not just a figurehead for the movement: he’s one of them, and like them, he’s fighting for goals that mean something to him personally. His dream isn’t lofty or figurative: it involves his own family. King is also appealing to the audience’s emotions by invoking the effects of racism on innocent children.
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King dreams that in his home state of Alabama, where he lives with his family, the “vicious racists” there will lose political and social power. He dreams that one day, even in a place as racist as Alabama, “little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”
As King continues to expand his dream both inward (toward the personal) and outward (toward the political), his language remains calculated to appeal to the audience’s emotions. In urging his listeners to visualize the goals of the civil rights movement, King is suggesting that the personal is political. The dream of harmony King envisions here when he talks about white and Black children holding hands in sisterhood and brotherhood is a personal one—but it isn’t possible if a dream of a more inclusive American society isn’t realized first. The vicious racists who hold political power stand in the way of the idyllic future King is urging his listeners to imagine. He wants them to see this clearly, and to dedicate themselves to eradicating racism.
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King dreams that valleys will be “exalted” and mountains brought low, that what’s rough will be smoothed and what’s crooked will be made straight. He dreams that all of humanity will see the “glory of the Lord.”
In this passage, King’s speech becomes much more explicitly religious. While the entire speech has had a sermon-like quality and has subtly invoked religion throughout, it has mostly focused on social and political issues. But this passage makes clear the religious ideas that underlie all of King’s dreaming: his dream is that God’s love will redeem humankind. When he talks about valleys being “exalted” (made higher) and mountains lowered, he’s using Biblical language to convey a vision of equality—terrain that was once uneven will all be brought to the same level. This imagery of equality is also apparent in King’s invocation of smoothing rough places or making crookedness straight. This brings his specific dream of equality (racial equality) into a more universal realm, one grounded in Christian theology.
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King’s dream gives him the faith to return to the South and continue fighting to craft “a stone of hope” out of a mountain of despair. It is his faith in a dream of a better America that he hopes will inspire everyone in attendance to work together and fight together until all of them are free.
King now shifts his audience’s focus from dreaming to action. Here, he asks his listeners to imagine whatever it is that they have faith in and to use that faith to do the hard work of fighting for freedom. In a striking image, he asks the audience to use faith to help make something useful out of their despair—if their despair is a mountain (enormous and unwieldy), they can craft a “stone of hope” from it, a stone of hope being a smaller, more manageable, and actively inspiring thing. In this way, he shows how faith can help people manage overwhelming despair and channel their emotions into making change.
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King hopes that soon, “all of God’s children” will be able to sing Samuel Francis Smith’s patriotic hymn “America (My Country, ‘Tis of Thee)” with new meaning. America cannot truly be “great” until every American can wholeheartedly sing the most iconic words of that song: “let freedom ring.”
By invoking the patriotic hymn “America (My Country, ‘Tis of Thee),” King is again showing how America has never lived up to its founding principles, especially freedom and justice. While Americans have sung this song for generations, King suggests that, on some level, Americans who sing it are either ignorant or disingenuous—they can’t truly proclaim that freedom is ringing throughout the country while Black people remain oppressed. But here, King isn’t criticizing the song—he’s exalting it. He loves the promise of the song and instead of discarding it because its words aren’t true, he wants to encourage all Americans to take its words seriously and fight to make them true so that everyone can earnestly sing this patriotic song together.
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King calls out for America to “let freedom ring” all across the nation—from the hilltops and “mighty mountains” of the Northeast, to the snowy, curvaceous slopes of the West. He also calls for freedom to ring out from “every hill and molehill” of the South.
Here, King invokes the imagery of terrain once again. This imagery—like the Biblical imagery he used before—is using contrasting landscapes to communicate a vision of equality. King wants all landscapes in America to hear the ringing of freedom (and, by extension, he wants all the people inhabiting those landscapes to be free). Just as before he invoked the exalting of valleys and lowering of mountains, here he specifies that both mountains (high places) and molehills (low places) will hear the ringing of freedom, showing that freedom and equality will benefit all Americans, no matter where they are.
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Once these calls for freedom ring out across the nation, the country will be one step closer to the day when “all of God’s children,” regardless of their race or religion, will be able to join hands and sing the words of an “old Negro spiritual”: “Free at last, free at last; thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”
A few moments before this, King expressed his hope that all Americans could come together to sing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”—a song written by a white person to celebrate the freedom that mostly white people experienced in America. Here, King expresses another hope: that all Americans will also join hands to sing a spiritual, a song likely written by an enslaved or recently freed Black American, celebrating the feeling of having freedom after a long period of bondage. This demonstrates an important part of King’s vision. It’s not just that, once racism is defeated, Black people will be able to sing patriotic songs that white people wrote about freedom—but also that white people will be able to sing songs written by Black people about finally becoming free. This shows, implicitly, that the project of defeating racism belongs to all races, and that once Black people are truly free, white people will be, too.
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