10 Landmark Quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech
Relive the stirring words from King's 1963 address.
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Remembering King's Words - BET.com recaps the powerful words behind Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered at the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom rally in 1963. Click here to see the full text of King's "I Have a Dream" speech. -- Britt Middleton "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 withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity." (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)
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One Hundred Years Later - "One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition." (Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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Cashing a Check - "In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. 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." (Photo: Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)
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A Promise to All Men - "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." (Photo: Rowland Scherman/Getty Images)
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A Bad Check - "Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt." (Photo: PhotoQuest/Getty Images)
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