50 Years Since the âI Have a Dreamâ Speech
-I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: -We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.-
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four 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.-
– Martin Luther King Jr.
50 Years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial that changed the world. The Civil Rights movement saw turbulent times in 1963 that gave ways to shocking events that no one will ever forget. To commemorate 50 years since this time, Vanderbilt University will hold some special events on campus to remember 1963.
On Wednesday, August 28th, Vanderbilt will remember the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom with a mid-day event in Benton Chapel beginning at 12:15 pm. We will be airing the commemoration events from Washington DC as well as showing a video of the speech. In the short 30-45 minute program, we will conclude with a reflection on the speech and the legacy of the March by Dr. Lewis Baldwin of Vanderbilt Divinity School.
On Thursday, September 5th, we will welcome Rev. Carolyn McKinstry to Benton Chapel at 7 pm. Rev. McKinstry was the sole survivor of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in September of 1963, a bombing by Klu Klux Klan members that took the lives of four your girls. Rev. McKinstry is the author of While the World Watched, a personal memoir of the event and the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement.
Please visit the Vanderbilt MLK Commemoration web site at www.vanderbilt.edu/mlk for more details about these and more events.