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4.0 out of 5 stars
Martin Luther King and the American Dream, July 23, 2009
In his speech delivered at the Lincoln Memorial during the August 28, 1963, March on Washington, Dr. Martin Luther King inspired the nation with his words "I have a dream." King's speech has been described as the best political speech of the Twentieth Century. High school students are able to identify the source of the phrase "I have a dream" much more consistently than they are able to identify the opening words of the Gettysburg Address or the Declaration of Independence. In his stunning and eloquent language, King disregarded the final third of the prepared text of his speech and spoke from his heart. As King himself latter recounted the origin of the speech:
"I started out reading the speech ... all of a sudden this thing came out of me that I have used - I'd used it many times before, that thing about `I have a dream' - and I just felt that I wanted to use it here. I don't know why, I hadn't thought about it before the speech." (Quoted in Sundquist, p. 14)
Eric Sundquist's recent book "King's Dream" (2009) is a meditation on this, the most famous speech of Martin Luther King. The goal of the study is to help understand the nature of King's dream and its continuing vitality. As with most writing of depth, King's speech has been appropriated for many purposes. With time and with the speech's iconic character, it has been commercialized and too-often trivialized and sentimentalized. It is a worthy goal to take a close look at the speech. Sundquist does not offer a line-by-line commentary on King's words, although such an approach might prove useful in another book. Rather, Sundquist tries to place King's speech in context by reading the text and by moving both forward and back to discuss its historical and cultural significance. (Introduction, p. 12) Sundquist is the UCLA Foundation Professor of Literature, and he has written widely on American literature and culture.
The best way to read this book is to begin with Sundquist's introduction and then to turn to the text of King's speech itself, which is given as an Appendix to the book. This approach will allow the reader to focus closely on King's speech as a whole before turning to Sundquist's discussion. In this way, the reader may think through some of the poetical and important thoughts of King, both those in the "I have a dream" section of the speech and earlier. Some of the phrases and themes in the speech that Sundquist explores are as follows.
From the prepared text:
"In a sense we've 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."
"We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now....
Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children."
"Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred."
From the "I have a dream" section of the speech:
"I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream."
"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 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."
"With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood."
"My country `tis of the sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. .... And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true."
"Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.!"
Sundquist elucidates these and other words on the speech by, among other ways, comparing them to other speeches of Dr. King, before and after this famous speech, by comparing them to other seminal American documents and events, by discussing the speech in the context of the pending Civil Rights legislation and the continued pattern of violence, (North and South), and by exploring various responses to and interpretations of the speech. Sundquist uses the famous "four little children" section of the speech to explore the involved and difficult question of King's attitude to affirmative action and its basis. Sundquist encourages the reader to think through the nature of King's dream as it stood in 1963 and as it has evolved with time.
In my view, King spoke both for the rights of black American's and for the American dream of equal rights for all. King saw black civil rights as integral to America. He vision does not reject the American dream but accepts and amplifies upon it. King spoke of brotherhood and love among all races and all people. This is a highly important ideal that still needs to be realized and fleshed out. For King the ideal was not inconsistent with race consciousness on certain matters. King spoke with passion and with religious fervor. His speech is pervaded by Biblical allusions. His speech captures the immediacy of a moment with learning, poetic beauty and love. King's speech has become iconic because it expounded and amplified upon the American dream. He had the rare gift of articulating a shared vision. Sundquist's book helped me to think about King's great speech.
Robin Friedman
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Literary and political analysis of historical and great American speech, January 19, 2009
This review is from: King's Dream: The Legacy of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" Speech (Icons of America) (Hardcover)
On August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King made , what is arguably, the greatest American political speech of the twentieth- century. In this work the literary and political background to the speech is analyzed. There is also analysis of the subsequent historical and political use made of the speech. King 's monumental speech was rich in the cadences of the Biblical prophets, and had two great turning moments. One was when he improvised the whole 'I have a dream' section. In this he articulated the American values of Justice and Freedom in a remarkably powerful way He concluded the speech by reciting 'My Country Tis of Thee' and taking the line ' Let Freedom Ring' and building with it to an another powerful all-
encompassing statement of fundamental American ideals.
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