I Have a Dream

On August 28, 1963, some 100 years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves, a young man named Martin Luther King climbed the marble steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. to describe his vision of America. More than 200,000 people-black and white-came to listen. They came by plane, by car, by bus, by train, and by foot. They came to Washington to demand equal rights for black people. And the dream that they heard on the steps of the Monument became the dream of a generation.

As far as black Americans were concerned, the nation’s response to Brown was agonizingly slow, and neither state legislatures nor the Congress seemed willing to help their cause along. Finally, President John F. Kennedy recognized that only a strong civil rights bill would put teeth into the drive to secure equal protection of the laws for African Americans. On June 11, 1963, he proposed such a bill to Congress, asking for legislation that would provide “the kind of equality of treatment which we would want for ourselves.” Southern representatives in Congress managed to block the bill in committee, and civil rights leaders sought some way to build political momentum behind the measure.

A. Philip Randolph, a labor leader and longtime civil rights activist, called for a massive march on Washington to dramatize the issue. He welcomed the participation of white groups as well as black in order to demonstrate the multiracial backing for civil rights. The various elements of the civil rights movement, many of which had been wary of one another, agreed to participate. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Congress of Racial Equality, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee and the Urban League all managed to bury their differences and work together. The leaders even agreed to tone down the rhetoric of some of the more militant activists for the sake of unity, and they worked closely with the Kennedy administration, which hoped the march would, in fact, lead to passage of the civil rights bill.

On August 28, 1963, under a nearly cloudless sky, more than 250,000 people, a fifth of them white, gathered near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington to rally for “jobs and freedom.” The roster of speakers included speakers from nearly every segment of society — labor leaders like Walter Reuther, clergy, film stars such as Sidney Poitier and Marlon Brando and folksingers such as Joan Baez. Each of the speakers was allotted fifteen minutes, but the day belonged to the young and charismatic leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had originally prepared a short and somewhat formal recitation of the sufferings of African Americans attempting to realize their freedom in a society chained by discrimination. He was about to sit down when gospel singer Mahalia Jackson called out, “Tell them about your dream, Martin! Tell them about the dream!” Encouraged by shouts from the audience, King drew upon some of his past talks, and the result became the landmark statement of civil rights in America — a dream of all people, of all races and colors and backgrounds, sharing in an America marked by freedom and democracy.

“I HAVE A DREAM” (1963)

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 of hope to millions of 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 colored America is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the colored American is still sadly crippled by the manacle of segregation and the chains of discrimination.

One hundred years later, the colored American lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the colored American is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land So we have 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 great 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 inalienable 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 its colored people a bad check, a check that 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. So we have come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice.

We have also come to his hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is not 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 promise of democracy.

Now it the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.

Now it the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

Now is the time to make justice a reality to all of God’s children.

I would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of it’s colored citizens. This sweltering summer of the colored people’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 colored Americans needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.
忽视当前时刻的紧迫性并低估有色人种公民的决心，这对国家来说将是致命的。有色人民正当不满的炎热夏季不会结束，直到迎来自由与平等的令人振奋的秋天。一九六三年不是终点而是开始。那些希望有色美国人需要发泄一下情绪就会满足的人，如果国家恢复如常运转，他们将会受到惊醒。

There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the colored citizen 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.
在美国有色公民获得其公民权利之前，美国将既无安宁也无平静。反抗的旋风将继续动摇我们国家的根基，直到正义的光明日子来临。

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.
只要我们疲惫不堪的身躯无法在公路旁的汽车旅馆和城市的酒店获得住宿，我们就永远不会满意。

We cannot be satisfied as long as the colored person’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.
只要有色人种的基本活动范围仅限于从一个小贫民窟到一个大贫民窟，我们就不能满意。

We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “for white only.”
只要我们的孩子被剥夺自我，被”仅限白人”的标志夺走尊严，我们就永远不能满意。

We cannot be satisfied as long as a colored person in Mississippi cannot vote and a colored person in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.
只要密西西比州的有色人种不能投票，纽约的有色人种认为没有什么值得投票的，我们就不能满意。

No, no we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.不，不，我们不会满意，直到正义如流水滚滚而下，公义如大河奔流。

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of your trials and tribulations. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by storms of persecutions and staggered by the winds of police brutality.我很清楚你们有些人是从考验和磨难中来到这里的。你们中有些人来自那些地方，在那里追求自由使你们遭受迫害的风暴的打击，在警察暴行的狂风中摇摇欲坠。

You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.你们一直是富有创造性的苦难的老兵。继续怀着信念工作，相信无辜的苦难是可以得到救赎的。

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 modern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.回到密西西比，回到阿拉巴马，回到南卡罗来纳，回到佐治亚，回到路易斯安那，回到我们现代城市的贫民窟，要知道这种状况终将得到改变。

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you, my friends, we have the difficulties of today and tomorrow.让我们不要在绝望的深谷中沉沦。我对你们说，我的朋友们，我们面临着今天和明天的困难。

I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.我依然有一个梦想。这个梦想深深植根于美国梦之中。

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.我有一个梦想，有一天这个国家将会奋起，实现其信条的真正含义。我们认为这些真理是不言而喻的：人人生而平等。

I have a dream that one day out in the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.我有一个梦想，有一天在佐治亚州的红色山丘上，昔日奴隶的子孙和奴隶主的子孙将能够坐在兄弟情谊的同一张桌子旁。

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
我有一个梦想，有一天，即使是密西西比州，这个饱受压迫之热煎熬的州，也将转变为自由与正义的绿洲。

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 their character.我有一个梦想，有一天我的四个小孩将生活在一个不是以他们的肤色，而是以他们的品格来评判他们的国家里。

I have a dream today.我今天有一个梦想。

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; that 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.我有一个梦想，有一天在阿拉巴马州，尽管那里有凶恶的种族主义者，尽管州长的嘴里滴着干预与否决的言词；有一天就在阿拉巴马，黑人男孩和女孩将能够与白人男孩和女孩牵手，如同兄弟姐妹一般。

I have a dream today.我今天有一个梦想。

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be engulfed, every hill shall be exalted and every 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 flesh shall see it together.
我有一个梦想，有一天每一个山谷都将被填满，每一个山丘都将被升高，每一座高山都将被削平，崎岖之处将变为平原，弯曲之处将被矫直，主的荣耀将被显现，所有人都将一同见证。

This is our hope. This is the faith that I will 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.
这就是我们的希望。这就是我将带回南方的信念。凭借这个信念，我们将能够从绝望之山中凿出希望之石。

With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.凭借这个信念，我们将能够把我们国家的刺耳不和谐转变成美妙的兄弟情谊交响乐。

With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to climb up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.凭借这个信念，我们将能够一起工作，一起祈祷，一起奋斗，一起坐牢，一起为自由攀登，因为我们知道有一天我们会获得自由。

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’s died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!”在那一天，上帝的所有儿女都能以新的含义唱出”我的祖国，你是我歌颂的自由甜蜜的土地。这是我父辈逝去的土地，朝圣者骄傲的土地，让自由之声从每个山坡响起！”

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.如果美国要成为一个伟大的国家，这一切必须成为现实。所以让自由之声从新罕布什尔的山顶响起。让自由之声从纽约的巍峨群山响起。

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.让自由之声从宾夕法尼亚州的阿勒格尼山脉响起。

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.让自由之声从科罗拉多州白雪皑皑的落基山脉响起。

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.让自由之声从加利福尼亚州曲线优美的山坡响起。

But not only that, let freedom, ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.不仅如此，让自由之声从佐治亚州的石头山响起。

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi and every mountainside.
让自由之声从密西西比州的每一座山丘和小丘，从每一个山坡响起。

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every tenement 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 spiritual, “Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”
当我们让自由之声响起，当我们让它从每个贫民窟和每个村庄，从每个州和每个城市响起时，我们就能加速实现这样的一天：上帝的所有儿女，无论黑人还是白人，犹太教徒还是外邦人，新教徒还是天主教徒，都能携手同唱古老圣歌中的词句：”终于自由了，终于自由了。感谢全能的上帝，我们终于自由了。”