This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.
Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”īut we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check.
And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.īut one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.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.įive score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. He ended the speech with: "I'm happy tonight. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land." Like anybody I would like to live a long life, longevity has its place but I'm not concerned about that now. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. "Well, I don't know what will happen now," King said in his final speech. In the talk, the reverend emphasized his main beliefs: unifying African Americans and the importance of nonviolent protests.īut the speech is most known for being oddly prophetic, seeming to predict his death just the next day, highlighting the fact that he has accepted his fate. Just one day before he was assassinated, King gave his final speech " I've Been to the Mountaintop." He gave the speech to a packed church of workers protesting working conditions. One of the last pictures taken of King, giving his final speech. "After contemplation, I conclude that this award, which I receive on behalf of that movement, is a profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression."Īt the end of his speech, he called peace "more precious than diamonds or silver or gold." "I must ask why this prize is awarded to a movement which is beleaguered and committed to unrelenting struggle, and to a movement which has not yet won the very peace and brotherhood which is the essence of the Nobel Prize," King said. Here's a snippet of his acceptance speech: Along with the honor, he was given $54,600, which he donated to the movement. At the time of his honor, it had been a year since his famous "I Have a Dream" speech and the country just passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 1964, King was 35 years old and the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
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