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Martin Luther King's Speech: 'I Have a Dream' - The Full Text
Aug. 27, 2013
ABC News
PHOTO: Martin Luther King Jr., left, circa 1970s, left, and President Barack Obama Dec. 3, 2012, at the National Defense University in Washington, D
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., left, speaks in New York, Oct. 16, 1965, and President Obama, Dec. 3, 2012, at the National Defense University in Washington.
Michael Ochs Archives/Alex Wong/Getty Images
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The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech is among the most acclaimed in U.S. history, and the 50th anniversary this week of the March on Washington where he delivered it highlights the speech's staying power.
His soaring close "to let freedom ring" still resonates today and inspires those who are moved by his dream.
He began with: "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 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