On this day in 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. and delivered this speech to more than 250,000. Dr. King had prepared a short talk and was about to sit down when gospel singer Mahalia Jackson called out, “Tell them about your dream, Martin! Tell them about the dream!” What followed was his amazing speech.

Dr. King spoke with passion and sincerity: “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 every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together . . . . And 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 ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!’ And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.”

He ended with this stirring proclamation: “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, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.’”

Because of Christ, we will be “free at last.” Thank God!

Now that we are saved, we eagerly look forward to this freedom. For if you already have something, you don’t need to hope for it (Romans 8:24).

To Do

Go on the Internet and search for this famous speech. You’ll find it under “I Have a Dream.” Then listen to or read the whole speech.

Also on this day . . .

1830—The Tom Thumb was demonstrated in Baltimore, Maryland. It was the first passenger train to be built in America.

1907—Two teenagers started the American Messenger Company, which later became United Parcel Service.

1972—Mark Spitz won the first of his seven gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005).