I say to you today, my friends, 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, live up to 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 children will one day live in a nation where
they will not be judged by the color if their skin but by the content of
their character. I have a dream today.