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Martin Luther King 's Speech

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Martin Luther King’s speech, I Have a Dream, rallied a historic march on August 28, 1963 to Washington, to show the importance of solving the United States racial problems. A large crowd of people gathered and listened to his uplifting and amazing words, (Garrison, 1831, pg. 2577). “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!” (Garrison, 1831, p. 2581) In 1787 Thomas Jefferson spoke in favor of abolishing slavery. However, in his writing, Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson expresses to his reader that blacks and whites may never live together peacefully (Garrison, 1831, pg. 763). Jefferson discusses that while blacks may have character they are still viewed by the color of their skin and is quoted as saying, “I advance it, therefore, a suspicion only, that the blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances, are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind.” (Garrison, 1831, p. 765) Character by definition is, “the way someone thinks, feels, and behaves” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.) and is “a set of qualities that are shared by many people in a group, country, etc.” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). Historically blacks were judged by the color of their skin and not by their character. In 1787 Thomas Jefferson spoke of the inferiority of blacks to whites, and in 1963 Martin

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