Step 1: Select Your Topics

Name:

Date:

School:

Facilitator:

11.03 I Have a Dream

Step 1: Select Your Topics

Go to the website Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream."

Imagine the setting: King's speech was the centerpiece of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. For this nationally televised event, King faced a crowd of 250,000 with the Lincoln Memorial behind him.
Read and, if possible, listen to the speech. If you prefer to read it offline, select "click for pdf" and print the speech.

Step 2: Note King's Connection of the Past with the Present

Look again at the opening sections of the speech. In the space provided below, complete the activities.

King uses the following key words to connect King's audience to an important hero from the past.

Five score: Refers to President Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" which begins "Fourscore and seven years ago ..."
symbolic shadow: Refers to the Lincoln Memorial
Emancipation Proclamation: Refers to Lincoln's declaration freeing the slaves

Question:Why would King want his listeners to think about President Lincoln?
Question: What problems does King list as he repeats the key words "one hundred years later"?
Question: King uses words associated with money, such as "cash a check," "a promissory note," "defaulted," "bank ...bankrupt," Why do you think he does that?
Question: King repeats "now." What do the following paired key words show King wants "now"?

desolate valley ... sunlit path:

quicksands ... rock:

Step 3: Note King's Connection to the Audience

Look again at the speech and find the key phrases listed in the chart below.
Complete the chart to show King's advice to his listeners based on each key phrase.

Key Phrases / His Advice
Should not gain their "rightful place" by...
Cannot satisfy their "thirst for freedom" with...
Cannot allow their "creative protest" to become...
Must meet "physical force" with...
Must "march ahead" not...

Step 4: Note King's Connection to the Future

King connects his audience to the future by repeating the most famous key words of this speech, "I have a dream." Locate this repeated statement.
Then answer the questions below in the space provided.

Question 1: What dreams does King have for specific Southern states? 2pts each

Georgia:

Mississippi:

Alabama:

Question 2: Why does King quote the song "My country, tis of thee"?

Step 5: Note King's Call for Freedom

King closes his speech by repeating his central message: "Let freedom ring." List the words he chooses to describe the "mountains" in each state:

New Hampshire
New York
Pennsylvania
Colorado
California
Georgia
Tennessee
Mississippi

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