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Martin Luther King, “I Have a Dream” Speech, March on Washington DC, Biography Chapter 8
1.
2. Today we are reflecting on Martin Luther King’s March on
Washington and his inspirational “I Have a Dream speech,”
drawing both from his speech and David Levering Lewis’
biography of Martin Luther King. We reflect on these questions:
Why was his “I Have a Dream” speech so memorable, so
inspiring? What was its historical context?
How did it respond to violence and bombings often faced by
those seeking civil rights and justice for all citizens?
Did the March on Washington encourage the passage of the
upcoming Civil Rights Act of 1964?
3. Please, we welcome interesting questions in the
comments. Let us learn and reflect together!
At the end of our talk, we will discuss the sources
used for this video.
Please feel free to follow along in the PowerPoint
script we uploaded to SlideShare, which includes
illustrations. Our sister blog includes footnotes, both
include our Amazon book links.
7. Due to his rousing speeches, Martin Luther King was seen as the
spokesman for the Civil Rights movement of the Sixties. He was great
television.
Previously we have reflected on his youth and schooling, then the
Montgomery Bus Boycott, when Martin Luther King first gained national
prominence due to media attention. Next, he participated in the Lunch
Counter and Freedom Rider protests, and then pursued Civil Rights in
Albany, Georgia. Albany did not attract overwhelming media attention,
but the brutality and bombing in Birmingham, where children were
martyred, did bolster public support for the passage of the landmark
Civil Rights Act of 1964.
8.
9. What was in living memory for all Americans of voting age
during the Civil Rights struggle of the Sixties, during the
Presidencies of John F Kennedy and Lyndon Baines
Johnson? Everyone remembered the end of World War II,
which meant that the Nazi regime of Hitler had been
defeated less than two decades previous. In addition to
the Civil Rights struggle, what other event was happening
that was also unimaginable without the experiences of
the Great War?
12. That other struggle which also dominated the news was the
Second Vatican Council was in session from 1962 through 1965
under first Pope John XXIII then Pope Paul VI. Two issues that
dominated the sessions were rejecting anti-Semitism, and the
American dominated debate about religious freedom, which also
implied the embrace of democracy and the rejection of both
fascist and communist authoritarianism. Anti-Semitism
dominated Europe’s attention as much as Civil Rights was the
center of attention in America, not only in Nazi Germany, but
also in France and Italy.
14. Our author, David Levering Lewis, compared the upcoming
March on Washington to the black leader Phillip
Randolph’s threat to stage a massive demonstration in
Washington, DC at the start of World War II, which was
called off when FDR ensured that more blacks would be
employed in the wartime factories. Indeed, Philip
Randolph suggested to Martin Luther King that he plan his
March on Washington as a repeat of his planned march
many decades before.
15. Leaders of the
March on
Washington,
Washington DC,
1963, Philip
Randolph in in
the center.
Martin Luther
King was in the
posed picture.
16. The March on Washington was also a replay of the
Marion Anderson concert in 1939. She was a black
opera singer who was denied use of concert halls in
Washington DC for her concerts because of the color
line. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt invited her to sing
for the public facing the Reflecting Pool, in front of
the Lincoln Memorial. Both events gave blacks hope
that better times were ahead for their race.
18. March on Washington Is Organized
During this time,
Martin Luther King
closed a speech: “I
say good night to
you by quoting the
words of an old
Negro slave. We
ain’t what we ought
to be and we ain’t
what we want to be.
But thank God we
ain’t what we was.”
19. Martin Luther King believed in
nonviolence as a tactic: “It
disarms your opponent, exposing
his moral defenses.” “If he
doesn’t beat you, wonderful! But
if he beats you, you develop the
quiet courage of accepting blows
without retaliating. If he doesn’t
put you in jail, wonderful! But if
he puts you in jail, you go in that
jail and transform it from a
dungeon of shame to a haven of
freedom and unity.” “If a man
hasn’t discovered something that
he will die for, he isn’t fit to live!”
20. Lewis writes in his biography, “Philip Randolph
formally proposed to the five major civil rights
organizations that an army of black plaintiffs be
sent to Washington to demand the enactment
of fair employment legislation and the passage
of an increased minimum wage,” extending it
to agriculture. Though some of these
organizations were not initially enthusiastic,
the March on Washington picked up steam
when Kennedy’s civil rights bill was endangered
due to a threatened filibuster in the Senate.
21. When John F Kennedy worried that
the protests might degenerate into
violence, Philip Randolph simply
replied: “The Negroes are already in
the streets. It is very likely
impossible to get them off. If they
are bound to be in the streets in any
case, is it not better that they be led
by organizations dedicated to civil
rights and disciplined by struggle
rather than to leave them to other
leaders who care neither about civil
rights nor nonviolence?”
Philip Randolph receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964.
22. In the summer of 1963, the heads of many civil rights
organizations met in New York, including Martin
Luther King of SCLC, John Lewis of SNCC, and also the
leaders of the NAACP, CORE, and the Urban League.
Also attending were Jewish rabbis, Protestant and
Catholic clergy, and Walter Reuther of the UAW, or
United Auto Workers.
23. Leaders of the March on
Washington posing in front
of the Lincoln Memorial
(standing L-R) director of the
National Catholic Conference
for Interracial Justice
Matthew Ahmann, Rabbi
Joachim Prinz, SNCC leader
John Lewis, Protestant
minister Eugene Carson
Blake, CORE leader Floyd
McKissick, and labor union
leader Walter Reuther;
(sitting L-R) National Urban
League executive director
Whitney Young, chairman of
the Demonstration
Committee Cleveland
Robinson, labor union leader
A. Philip Randolph, Dr.
Reverend Martin Luther King
Jr., and NAACP leader Roy
Wilkins
24. The organizers and the Park Service were anticipating
150,000 participants, but about 250,000 attended, about a
third were white. Entertainment was planned for the
participants, including Joan Baez, John Dylan, Peter, Paul
and Mary, and others, which helped guarantee that this
would be a peaceful gathering. The March leaders met
with members of Congress that morning, and with
President Kennedy after the event. Ten speakers from the
civil rights organizations were planned. Martin Luther
King’s “I Have a Dream” was the last speech.
26. The 1963 March on
Washington is
represented by a stamp
featuring a 1964 painting
called March on
Washington by Alma
Thomas
27. The speakers were careful not to criticize
President Kennedy, but they did soften up
John Lewis’ speech, which initially
threatened that “the next time we march,
we won’t march on Washington, but we
will march through the South, through the
heart of Dixie, the way General Sherman
did” on his march through Georgia, where
he burned, pillaged, and destroyed the
countryside. Instead, Lewis changed this to
say that he would “march through the
South, through the streets of Danville” and
Cambridge and Birmingham. “But we will
march with the spirit of love” and “dignity
that we have shown here today.”
Sherman's men destroying railroad in Georgia.
28. In his speech, Roy Wilkins of the NAACP suggested that
the pending civil rights bill and other legislation would
include:
• Desegregated public transportation, including buses.
• Integrated education, voting rights for blacks, and
better housing.
• “Fair Employment Practices Act to bar federal, state,
city, and private employers, unions, and contractors
from job discrimination.”
• A minimum wage of not less than two dollars an hour,
equivalent to nineteen dollars an hour in 2022.
• “Federal programs to train and place unemployed
workers.”
• Enable federal agencies to enforce these rights.
29. Martin Luther King: “I Have a Dream”
Martin Luther King’s “I Have a
Dream” Speech begins:
“Five score years ago, a great
American, in whose symbolic
shadow we stand today, 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 their captivity.”
30. https://youtu.be/UciDV5laOLg
“But a hundred years later, the Negro
still is not free. One hundred years later,
the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled
by the manacles of segregation and the
chains of discrimination. “
32. https://youtu.be/GQesHoV5IdI
“One hundred years later the
Negro is still languishing in the
corners of American society and
finds himself in exile in his own
land. We have come here today to
dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense, we've come to our
nation's capital to cash a check.”
33. MLK’s Dream continues, “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. 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. Instead of honoring this sacred
obligation, America has given the Negro people a
bad check, a check which has come back marked
insufficient funds.”
34. MLK’s Dream continues, “But we refuse to
believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.”
“We refuse to believe that there are insufficient
funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this
nation. And so, we've come to cash this check,
a check that will give us upon demand the
riches of freedom and the security of justice.”
Martin Luther King is also using language
reminiscent of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address:
“We have also come to his hallowed spot to
remind America of the fierce urgency of now.
This is no time to engage in the luxury of
cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of
gradualism.”
35. MLK’s Dream continues, “Now is
the time to make real the
promises of democracy. Now is
the time to rise from the dark
and desolate valley of
segregation to the sunlit path of
racial justice. Now is the time to
lift our nation from the quick
sands of racial injustice to the
solid rock of brotherhood. Now
is the time to make justice a
reality for all of God's children.”
36. MLK’s Dream continues, “It would be
fatal for the nation to overlook the
urgency of the moment. This
sweltering summer of the Negro's
legitimate discontent will not pass
until there is an invigorating autumn
of freedom and equality. 1963 is not
an end, but a beginning. Those who
hope that the Negro needed to blow
off steam and will now be content
will have a rude awakening if the
nation returns to business as usual.”
37. Although many white liberals were concerned that
Martin Luther King was going too fast in his protests
and demands, there were many activists more radical
than he, including the student organization SNCC that
he helped form, and militants like Malcolm X, whose
supporters egged Martin’s car when he was in
Harlem.
38. Close up of
some leaders
of the March
on
Washington
walking along
Constitution
Avenue.
39. MLK’s Dream continues, “There will be neither
rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is
granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of
revolt will continue to shake the foundations of
our nation until the bright day of justice
emerges.”
“But there is something that I must say to my
people who stand on the warm threshold
which leads into the palace of justice. In the
process of gaining our rightful place, we must
not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek
to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking
from the cup of bitterness and hatred.”
40. Martin Luther King reminds his audience of the
need for nonviolent tactics:
“We must forever conduct our struggle on the
high plane of dignity and discipline. We must
not allow our creative protest to degenerate
into physical violence. Again and again, we
must rise to the majestic heights of meeting
physical force with soul force. The marvelous
new militancy which has engulfed the Negro
community must not lead us to a distrust of all
white people, for many of our white brothers,
as evidenced by their presence here today,
have come to realize that their destiny is tied
up with our destiny.”
Martin Luther King promoting his book
Why We Can't Wait, based on his Letter
from Birmingham Jail, 1964
41. The destiny of both blacks and whites are intertwined. Contrary to the Lost Cause
mythology that reinterpreted the history of the Civil War in favor of the Southern
cause, the Negro really did play a central role in American history. Freed slaves like
Frederick Douglass helped lead the abolitionist movement before the Civil War.
WEB Du Bois in his groundbreaking history, Black Reconstruction, demonstrated
how blacks helped bring victory to Union forces during the Civil War by providing
valuable intelligence and weakening the Southern economy when many slaves
escaped during the war. Black soldiers enlisted in the Union Army in large numbers
ensuring victory, and blacks were a leaders in the Reconstruction governments
after the Civil War, until Reconstruction was ended, and white supremacists
disenfranchised black voters, passing Jim Crow segregation laws. WEB Du Bois’
Black Reconstruction became the dominant historical narrative interpreting the
history of the Civil War and Reconstruction as a result of the Civil Rights struggles
of the Sixties.
44. But Martin Luther King also
emphasizes that civil rights
activists should never give up
and should never waver in their
dedication:
“And they have come to realize
that their freedom is inextricably
bound to our freedom. We
cannot walk alone. And as we
walk, we must make the pledge
that we shall always march
ahead. We cannot turn back.”
Civil Rights March on Washington, DC Author James
Baldwin with actors Marlon Brando and Charlton Heston.
45. MLK’s Dream continues: “There
are those who are asking the
devotees of civil rights, when
will you be satisfied? We can
never be satisfied as long as the
Negro is the victim of the
unspeakable horrors of police
brutality. We can never be
satisfied as long as our bodies,
heavy with the fatigue of travel,
cannot gain lodging in the
motels of the highways and the
hotels of the cities.”
46. Before the Civil Rights era of the Sixties, when blacks
traveled, most hotels, restaurants, gas stations, and
other establishments refused to cater to blacks.
There was a national publication, the Green Book,
that listed those establishments that welcomed
blacks. This was necessary because there were tens
of thousands sundown towns across the United
states that did not welcome blacks after dark,
enforced by the police.
47.
48. When can blacks be satisfied? MLK proclaims:
“We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's
basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a
larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as
our children are stripped of their selfhood and
robbed of their dignity by signs stating: FOR
WHITES ONLY.”
“We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in
Mississippi cannot vote, and a Negro in New
York believes he has nothing for which to
vote.”
“No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not
be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters,
and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
49. Martin Luther King reminded his listeners that unjust
laws must be challenged, that the Freedoms of
Speech and Assembly implies a freedom to protest, a
freedom that had been recently confirmed by the
Supreme Court during the Birmingham struggle.
50. Close up of
some leaders
of the March
on
Washington
walking along
Constitution
Avenue.
51. MLK’s Dream continues: “I am
not unmindful that some of
you have come here out of
great trials and tribulations.
Some of you have come fresh
from narrow jail cells. Some of
you have come from areas
where your quest for freedom
left you battered by the storms
of persecution and staggered
by the winds of police
brutality. You have been the
veterans of creative suffering.”
52. MLK continues, “Continue to work with
the faith that unearned suffering is
redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go
back to Alabama, go back to South
Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back
to Louisiana, go back to the slums and
ghettos of our Northern cities,
knowing that somehow this situation
can and will be changed.”
“Let us not wallow in the valley of
despair, I say to you today, my friends.”
54. Some have claimed that Martin Luther King went off-
script in his “I Have a Dream” refrains. But he had
been trying out this refrain in previous speeches.
Other speeches listed the demands of the
movement, but Martin instead chose to inspire with
his speech, and this is indeed one of the most
memorable speeches in modern history.
55. https://youtu.be/wyjWBAG6xrc
The refrains begin with phrases from the Gettysburg Address:
“So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, 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.”
56. MLK looks peers into the future: “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 the table of
brotherhood.”
“I Have a Dream that one day even
the state of Mississippi, a state
sweltering with the heat of
injustice, sweltering with the heat
of oppression, will be transformed
into an oasis of freedom and
justice.”
57. More blood would be drawn in Mississippi, as the
local police in league with the KKK would murder
both black and white students who were registering
voters in Mississippi.
59. MLK proclaims: “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 down in
Alabama with its vicious racists, with its
governor having his lips dripping with the
words of interposition and nullification, one
day right down 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. “I Have a Dream today.”
60. Blood had already been drawn in Alabama, including
the death by dynamite of four young girls attending
Sunday School in a black church.
61. The 16th Street Baptist Church, headquarters for the Birmingham campaign
62. MLK’s Dream continues: “I Have
a Dream that one day every
valley shall be exalted, 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.”
63. “This is our hope. This is the faith that
I go back to the South with. With this
faith, we will be able to hew out of
the mountain of despair a stone of
hope. With this faith, we will be able
to transform the jangling discords of
our nation into a beautiful symphony
of brotherhood. With this faith we
will be able to work together, to pray
together, to struggle together, to go
to jail together, to stand up for
freedom together, knowing that we
will be free one day.”
64. MLK’s Dream continues:
“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 pilgrims' pride,
from every mountainside,
let freedom ring.” Aretha Franklin singing "My Country, 'Tis Of Thee" at the first
inauguration of Barack Obama, 2009
65. MLK concludes his Dream:
“And if America is to be a
great nation, this must
become true. And so let
freedom ring from the
prodigious hilltops of New
Hampshire.”
Little River, New Hampshire by Marsden Hartley
66. “Let freedom ring
from the mighty
mountains of New
York. Let freedom
ring from the
heightening
Alleghenies of
Pennsylvania. Let
freedom ring from
the snowcapped
Rockies of
Colorado.”
Rocky Mountain National Park
67. “Let freedom
ring from the
curvaceous
slopes of
California.”
On the
California
Coast, by
William Henry
Holmes,
around 1900
68. “But not only that,
let freedom ring
from Stone
Mountain of
Georgia. Let
freedom ring from
Lookout Mountain
of Tennessee. Let
freedom ring from
every hill and
molehill of
Mississippi. From
every mountainside,
let freedom ring.”
Stone Mountain near Atlanta, Georgia, carvings of Confederate Leaders.
69. What is ironic is that on the face of Stone Mountain,
the most visited tourist attraction in Georgia, are
carved the portraits of Confederate President
Jefferson Davis, and Confederate Generals Robert E
Less and Stonewall Jackson. This is a pilgrimage site
for white supremacists and members of the Ku Klux
Klan. Stone Mountain Park is owned by the state of
Georgia.
70. Stone Mountain near
Atlanta, Georgia,
carvings of Confederate
President Jefferson
Davis, and Confederate
Generals Robert E Less
and Stonewall Jackson.
71. An important
Civil War
Battle was
won by Grant’s
Union Army
where they
drove the
Confederates
off Lookout
Mountain in
Tennessee.
72. Martin Luther King finishes his Dream:
“And when this happens, and when
we allow freedom 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.”
Marion Anderson singing "My Country, 'Tis Of Thee" at her
concert at the Lincoln Memorial, 1939
73. Reactions To the “I Have a Dream” Speech
President John F Kennedy meets with civil rights leaders after the March on Washington and their speeches.
74. After every speech, the news commentators always
remark that it did not move the needle of public
opinion. What this impatience misses is that politics
is like relationships: over a long period of time they
will either improve, or they will deteriorate. We
should always seek that they improve.
75. As Hubert Humphrey
noted after the
speech: “All this
probably hasn’t
changed any votes on
the civil rights bill, but
it is a good thing for
Washington and the
nation and the world.”
And people all around
the world were also
watching these events
unfold on their
television sets.
VP-elect Hubert Humphrey alongside Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King
76. John F Kennedy issued
this statement: “We have
witnessed today in
Washington tens of
thousands of Americans,
both Negro and white,
exercising their right to
assemble peacefully and
direct the widest possible
attention to a great
national issue.”
77. A few months later, in
November, President John F
Kennedy was assassinated in
his motorcade in Dallas,
Texas, with his brains spilling
out of his skull as it rested on
the lap of the First Lady
Jacqueline Kennedy. Martin
Luther King wrote in Look
magazine, “JFK was at his
death undergoing a
transformation from a
hesitant leader to a strong
figure with deeply appealing
objectives.”
78. JFK’s assassination, combined with MLK’s “I
Have a Dream” speech, accelerated the
progress of the civil rights legislation in
Congress. Our biographer Lewis notes:
“Martin believed that cruel chance had
devised the ultimate civil rights weapon, a
presidential voice that spoke in a Southern
drawl.” LBJ was a highly effective
congressman, rising to become Senate
Majority Leader before he was chosen to be
Vice President, and vigorously cajoled the
passage of the Civil Rights Bill of 1964.
79. As Lewis recounts: “As 1963 drew to a close,
the stature of Martin Luther King continued to
grow.” In January 1964, the calm, directed
gaze of Martin Luther King graced the cover of
Time magazine again. He had been chosen
Man of the Year, the second black man since
Emperor Haile Selassie to receive this honor.”
The Time magazine article was flattering. “Few
can explain the King mystique, yet he has an
indescribable capacity for empathy that is the
touchstone of leadership. By deed and by
preaching, he has stirred in his people a
Christian forbearance that nourishes hope and
smothers injustice.”
80. In a speech in Europe in December
1964, Martin Luther King
proclaimed, “I accept the Nobel
Prize for Peace at a moment when
twenty-two million Negroes in
America are engaged in a creative
battle to end the long night of
racial injustice.” “I am mindful that
debilitating and grinding poverty
afflicts my people and chains them
to the lowest rung of the
economic ladder.”
81. After the March on Washington and Martin Luther
King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, he faced more
bloody struggles against white supremacists, first in
St Augustine, then in registering voters in Mississippi,
then facing police dogs and brutality in the famous
march on Selma, followed by his fight for more
equitable housing in Chicago. Finally, his life was cut
short by his assassination in Memphis.
84. The author, David Levering Lewis, was planning to write
the biography of Martin Luther King when he was
assassinated. It was initially published sixteen months
later and quickly became the classic biography of this Civil
Rights icon. We discussed his biography, and several
controversies, in greater depth in our reflection on his
youth and school years. We also recommend the Time
magazine article for another readable biography of Martin
Luther King. Lewis also wrote the definitive biography for
WEB Du Bois.