I Have a Dream: Race Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph.Sentence)

Quote #4

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. (15.1)

The most quoted words of the entire Civil Rights Movement. This line imagines a future without racism. That goal sounded like science fiction in the 1960s. Since then, there have been major improvements along the lines of minority rights and upward mobility, but racism still lingers.

Quote #5

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification," one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. (16.1)

Focusing on children makes the audience think of segregated schools, a cornerstone of Jim Crow. White parents of the era would often separate their children. Losing a white playmate was a formative experience for MLK himself. (Source)