MLK Jr. "I Have A Dream" Speech (VIDEO)

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is Monday, honoring one the greatest civil rights leaders of all time.

Celebrated this year on January 17, 2011, the holiday falls on the third Monday of January every year, right around King's birthday, which is January 15. King would have been 82 this year.

His "I Have A Dream" speech was recited on August 28, 1963 during the March on Washington. King spoke in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

Perhaps the most famous of King's speeches, the repetition "I have a dream" resonated with marches and became a symbol of civil rights. The speech was initially titles "Normalcy, Never Again," but as King became more and more impassioned, he began to "preach" continuously repeating the phrase.

Watch King's historic speech below.

WATCH:

Comments

[cipherblaze]

06:51 PM on 01/18/2011

A Trubute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkLRcw96t9I

[Dare Taiwo]

04:28 AM on 01/18/2011

MLK was indeed a man ahead of his time. To see that despite the hostile environmen­t within which he and his Contempora­ries grew up in the then United States of America, they where able to rise above adversarie­s and limitation­s to leave indelible footprints in the sand of time.
Will that be spoken of us when we have long left this sinful world? Or would we, because of political and ideologica­l difference­s, allow Politician­s to continue to sow seeds of discord among us for their sheer aggrandize­ment?
Would we allow them to continue to hold our economy to ransom because of their desires to wrest political powers from the Party across the aisle?
It is time we all come together, not as Conservati­ves, Democrats, Tea Party, black, white, green, red, brown but as a People with common destinies and with common goals, vision and aspiration­s for the future of this great Country.
Let us make every moment of our lives count. Let us live our lives in the service of humanity

[mumi009]

03:31 PM on 01/17/2011

After listening to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s speecgm "Beyond Vietnam", I don"t know how anybody in his right mind could say that he would have supported the U.S aggression in Afghanistan. See his speech here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f17HXUvMebk

[stagnation13]

02:24 PM on 01/17/2011

Absolutely timeless was his message. Each year I watch this, each year I cry, and each year I wonder why Black History Month is only a month.

[kalimuzo]

02:13 PM on 01/17/2011

This is what the world looks at and loves America for, not Mcarthy or Wallace but MLK and JFK.

[venice6]

01:42 PM on 01/17/2011

If ever there was a time to remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, it would be now.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, An American Citizen who was intelligen t, wise, courageous , a

visionary, a uniter and person who brought this Country to a better place and inspired people to be better.

I am so glad the ever offensive, divisive , racist and hate/viole nce inciting:

Nobody's like Palin, Beck, Limbaugh, Bauchmann, Angle , GOP, Teabaggers and all their petrid ilk

are quiet today in remembernc e of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Their voices have no place in this great Country, Trying to bring it down with HATE.

[Peaceisnecessary]

01:37 PM on 01/17/2011

It is amazing how that speech would still apply today. Except instead of "negro", it would be "People of Color". It is as though discrimination is becoming worse. In the 70s and 80s, you would at least see a black reporter or T.V. show and now in order to see a black face on T.V. you have to turn to BET. Many Black and Latino men are in prison for minor infractions while Whites only get probation or a warning. Many are being shot by Police Depts. throughout the nation -- college students, etc. The removal of Affirmative Action at the work place has made it so much harder for a "person of color' to find a job, especially a black man. I hope another man such as Dr.King appears to help fight these injustices.

[maslin]

01:24 PM on 01/17/2011

This is one of the most moving, most inspiring, most powerful speeches ever given.

For me personally, this speech is a touchstone to which I return every year at least once for a new lesson in How To Be An American. This is what we are aiming for, ladies and gentlemen, just as we have been aiming for it since a certain intemperate red-headed polymath wrote the Declaration.

I have to wonder: what would Dr King have said or thought if he knew that the first African-American President of the US was two years and twenty-four days old when he gave this speech?

[LeftofTerry]

01:02 PM on 01/17/2011

compare the rhetoric of MLK with the GOP today. one an oppressed minority, the other the dominant majority.

[LeftofTerry]

12:58 PM on 01/17/2011

incredible.

[Notawingnut]

12:54 PM on 01/17/2011

King was a man that will live on in history long after we've stopped sniping about Bush and Obama. His speeches were timeless, and I hope that one day they will be "timed". We're still a long long way from his dream, but each baby step forward is a step in the direction of liberty and justice for all. He embodied the better angel in all of us. He was and is the conscience of a nation and perhaps the entire world. You can rationalize the hatred in your own heart for your entire life, but you'll still know in your heart that it's wrong to hate. Fear breeds hatred. We have nothing to fear but fear itself. The only thing intolerable is intolerance. Understand those things and be set free of your own fear. I myself grapple with these same fears. It's a deep enlightenment to truly walk through the streets of a downtown ghetto or the wrong side of the tracks without fear. It requires strength of character and courage to let go of your own fears, and consequentially your own hatreds, but every religion in the world has a varient of the same message. Love your fellow man, even if your fellow man does not love you.

[End All Empire]

12:39 PM on 01/17/2011

The Martin Luther King You Don't See on TV
http://www­.fair.org/­index.php?­page=2269

MLK said that "the greatest purveyor of violence on Earth is my own government­." He also spoke out against the "evils of capitalism­." WHY don't people get spoon fed this info on this great man? Hmmmmm...

[whoamitosay]

12:24 PM on 01/17/2011

This is great and moving speech by Martin Luther King, Jr.; and long after the event it still resonates speaking truth to power on behalf of all; I appreciate the video-post ~ THANKS

[Maxims and Arrows]

10:53 AM on 01/17/2011

Wish you were here.

[knitterpatter]

10:34 AM on 01/17/2011

Thank you hp for posting this amazing speech. I remember 1963, as an 8-year-old, Irish white girl, going to school in Gainesville, Florida, when two school buses came to take the whites and blacks to different schools. I asked my mom and dad, why? They could not give a clear answer, but I knew that something was very wrong. To this day, I am amazed that this segregation was happening in my lifetime. As I see so many whites in the audience here, I know I was not the only one questioning the idiocy of racism.