MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
‘I Have a Dream’ (Lincoln Memorial, Washington C.C., August 28, 1963)

Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Clergyman, Activist and prominent leader in the African – American civil rights movement. His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States, he has become a human rights icon. King’s efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his ‘ I Have a Dream’ speech. His speech on August 28, 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln memorial during the march on Washington for jobs and freedom, was a defining movement of the American civil Rights Movement. There, he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest orators in US history.

1.What according to Martin Luther King is the ‘urgency of the moment’ that needs to be addressed?

Martin Luther King Jr. expresses his anguish that blacks are not equally treated. He delivered thought invoking, inspiriting speech on August 28, 1963. Where he expresses, what is the present urgent need for the blacks and the hopes of the speaker from the government.

A great man (Abraham Lincoln) had proclaimed that blacks are free and can join into the American Army. This official order brought a light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been suffering in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. They are still oppressed, segregated in the corners of American society. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on the lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. So, he is expressing their painful racial discrimination.

Martin Luther King says that they have come to their nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republics wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and 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 would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is clearly felt today that America has neglected or failed to implement this promissory note in case of citizens of colour are concerned. No justice is shared equally. So they deny this sense of injustice unanimously. And they have come back to remind and demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

Martin Luther King hopes that the present need is to retain our freedom which was promised long ago.

2.How Martin Luther King narrates that both white and black people freedom is tied up?

It is the time to awaken and open the doors of opportunity to all of God’s children, and to break the shackles of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. If the nation is paying deaf ear it would be experiencing a rude awakening. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. This revolution would continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

Martin Luther King was instilling hopes, chances, foresight, vision for his people. He says that they must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. Physical violence protest not to be given road. Everything has to be dealt in hand in hand with white brothers. Their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inseparably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

Martin Luther King asked the Negroes always to march ahead and never turn back. They should not be satisfied until they could enter motels and hotels, and move from smaller homes to larger homes like others. They would not be satisfied unless they were allowed to vote for a better future and get injustice and righteous treatment.

Finally, Martin Luther King gave a clarion call to the Negroes to come out of their despair and continue to work with the faith that selfless suffering would result in redemption.

3.Give an elaborate account of Martin Luther King’s dream.

During the historic demonstration of the unprivileged Negroes of America, Martin Luther King announced that he had a dream within the larger American dream. The dream was for a better destiny for the Negroes of America.

The dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to the self-evident: that all men are created equal. 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 a table of brotherhood. One day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

The dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. Where all the little white boys and white girls walk together as sisters and brothers. 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 be made straight, the glory of the lord shall be revealed, and all the flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With our hope we destroy the mountain of hopelessness. With our hope we build up relation of brotherhood and work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, they knew that they would be free one day. On that day all the children of God would sing a song of freedom. There would be no difference then between black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics. This meant that all men were free at last.

This was the fond dream of Martin Luther King.


4.What is the background of the speech?

Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Clergyman, Activist and prominent leader in the African – American civil rights movement. His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States, he has become a human rights icon. King’s efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. His speech on August 28, 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln memorial during the march on Washington for jobs and freedom, was a defining movement of the American civil Rights Movement. There, he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest orators in US history.

5.Who is the ‘Great American’ that Martin Luther is referring to in the beginning of his speech?

Abraham Lincoln is the ‘Great American” that Martin Luther King is referring to.

6.What the symbolic meaning of the words like ‘check’, ‘promissory note’, etc, in the speech.

Martin Luther King in his speech he said that Constitution has given ‘check’ here they have come to cash it to reap the fruits of freedom. And he used ‘promissory note’ though the nation has promised to give liberty but it failed. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

7.Explain the meaning of the poetic lines ‘My country,….Let freedom ring’.

The essence of these lines are – let freedom be spread all the corners and every mountainside, snow-capped Rockies of Colorado, curvaceous peaks of California, Stone mountain of Georgia, Mountain of Tennessee, every hill and molehill of Mississippi, every mountainside and all the corners of the nation for this most of the people sacrificed their lives.

8.What was the discrimination meted out to the blacks, according to the speaker?

A great man (Abraham Lincoln) had proclaimed that blacks are free and can join into the American Army. This official order brought a light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been suffering in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. They are still oppressed, segregated in the corners of American society. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on the lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. So, he is expressing their painful racial discrimination.

Martin Luther King says that they have come to their nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republics wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and 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 would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.