I Have A Dream Speech

Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | Adult | Published in 1973

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Symbols & Motifs

Dreams

Dreams are clearly a recurring symbol in the speech, with the phrase “I have a dream” appearing eight separate times toward the speech’s climax. The dream King envisions is an America where race does not divide its citizens and all states are beacons of freedom, justice, and brotherhood. His dream is an idealistic vision for the future, which is not to say it is unrealistic. Rather, King states the continued work of the civil rights movement can make the dream a reality. His message is an optimistic one, then, as it suggests Heaven can be made on Earth and no dream is too big to work toward creating. King’s listed dreams parallel the structure of the listed grievances earlier in the speech, suggesting the dreams are a cure for the horrors Black Americans daily face. By asserting the real cruelty, his dream lands as both a welcome bit of escapism from the real world and an aspiration encouraging his audience to keep the faith and keep up the fight. The dream of racial equality is both the thing that keeps King working and the goal of the work.

While his dream has biblical elements (as he says, for instance, his dream includes the revelation of “the glory of the Lord”), King also roots his dream in patriotism, directly tying it to the American Dream. The American Dream is the notion that America is a land of opportunity and freedom for all—a place where any person of any background, race, class, or religion can economically advance and achieve any dream. This is a dream long denied of Black Americans, but King suggests the future will see this dream fulfilled. Thus, his dream of racial equality is directly related to the American Dream and both are achievable.

Nature and Landscapes

King makes several references to specific locations throughout the speech, referencing, for example, the states in which civil rights are being fought for both in the North and the South. But at the end of the speech, he refers to the natural beauty of the American landscape, writing of freedom ringing in “the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado” and the “curvaceous slopes of California.” These references are direct allusions to the patriotic song “America (My Country ‘Tis of Thee)” while also nodding to celebrated historical American lore: the idea of European settlers transforming a rugged but majestic frontier into a great nation. Those landscapes prominently figure in the history of manifest destiny as well as the myths America tells about its import in the world. To King, the land and nature are worth the mythologizing, even if the truth about America is not.

The nature references also implicitly highlight the unnatural conditions of racism. The majestic vistas defining America are not racist, nor are they places where freedom currently rings. However, they can be transformed into beacons of freedom. King notes that Mississippi, for example, is currently a “state sweltering with the heat of injustice [and] oppression” but it “will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.” The civil rights movement itself will spiritually and physically help transform the land and will result in a new land where, paraphrasing the Bible, “justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

These references to nature and landscapes are also, as noted above, biblical. King almost directly quotes the Bible when he states “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed” when “crooked places will be made straight” and “every hill and mountain shall be made low.” The work of the civil rights movement is to help bring God’s light to America and to carve a “stone of hope” from a “mountain of despair.” King claims the marchers can transform the nation by metaphorically re-creating its discordant and harsh landscapes into new ones of light, equality, and beauty. Thus, nature is both something to admire about the United States as well as something to which to aspire.

The Check

King uses the extended metaphor of the check to highlight the national promises made but not delivered to Black Americans. King states that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution promised America would be a country in which “all men, yes, Black men as well as White men” would be guaranteed the same rights. But this “promissory note” has “defaulted” when it comes to Black people. America has, in fact, written Black people a bad check, and now the civil rights movement and the marchers are here to demand the check be cashed. King refuses to accept there are insufficient funds in the American government’s account of freedom.

The check is not just about the promises made to Black Americans. King suggests that since the check is not guaranteed for Black people, it really isn’t a valid check at all. He argues America’s “promises of democracy” are invalid if they are invalid for any Americans, implying America is not the land of liberty it boasts. King’s goal is to make real the dream and promise of America by making the check America wrote cashable.

Finally, the check metaphor more directly connects racism to economic inequality, as a check is a literal means to pay for something. King’s speech is not just about segregation and a lack of voting rights for Black people; it is also about the lack of economic opportunity for Black Americans whose “basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.” Thus, the check is not just a promise of racial equality but also one of financial freedom and equality of opportunity.