All through history, countries are known to have reached points where they had to confront particular kinds of great challenges. In all such occasions, a charismatic leader steps forward to inspire and galvanize the citizens into actions to resolve the challenges. And in each case, the weapon of inspiration and mobilization is the speech.

Examples of such speeches are featured in this Series.

Speech delivered at Lincoln memorial, Washington DC, 28 August, 1963 that secured equal rights for blacks in all facets in American society and led the foundation for the election of first American Black President. Time magazine name Dr. Martin Luther King “Person of the year” in 1963. In 1964 he became the youngest man to be honoured with a Nobel Peace Prize.

Martin Luther King Jnr. (1929-1968) is regarded as the most significant civil rights Leader of the 20th Century. His lifetime achievements and lasting impact rank among the greatest, if not the greatest. With one single speech, he changed the world. King’s speech, “I have a dream” delivered before hundreds of thousands at Lincoln memorial inspired not just Black Americans but the entire Black to believe in themselves and dream of achievements hitherto regarded as taboo for the Blackman. The speech is the inspiration of Obama’s Audacity of Hope that transported him to the White House.

“…I say to you today my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in 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, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will he made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together!

 

This is our hope. 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!

 

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 is of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrims’ pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring,” And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

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 in Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and mole hill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring, and when this happens,when we allow freedom to 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!”