Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I have a Dream”
And 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."
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.
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 there 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!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and 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."
This is our hope, and 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.
And this will be the day -- 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 Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
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.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
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.
And when this happens, 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!
Questions for preparing Martin Luther King’s text:
1. What rights did black people have in the USA in the 1960’s? None. They didn’t have any rights in 1960.
2. What was “segregation”? Segregation was when black and white people were separated. It had happened for a long time.
3. What did states as Georgia, Mississippi or Alabama have in common in the 1960’s? Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama were racist states of America
4. Who were the “Pilgrims”? Pilgrims were the people who went to America from England to find a new country
5. What is a “spiritual”? The spiritual is a Negro song that has a deep meaning
Vocabulary:
Rooted:Arrelar
Rise up: Resurgir/ Surgir
Creed:Credo
Hold: Aguantar
Swelter: Molt calent
Heat: Calor
Rough: Rugós
Crooked: Doblegat
Straight: Recte
Flesh: Carn(humana)
Despair: Desesperació
Hope: Esperança
More Vocabulary
Slaves: Esclaus
Oppression: Opressió
Made low: Qualitat de vida
Hill: Turó
Hew out: foradar
Faith: Fe
Jangling discords: Desafinat
Struggle: Esforç
Heightening: Crèixer
Barack Obama 
President elect victory Speech (“Change has come to America”)
delivered 4th November 2008, Chicago
This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing – Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.
She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons – because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America – the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.
When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.
When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.
She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.
A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.
America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves – if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time – to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth – that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:
Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.
Questions for preparing Barack Obama’s text:
1. When did women get the right to vote in the United States? (par. 2) The first woman was registered in 1920 in Missouri
2. What was the “New Deal”? (par. 5) The New Deal was the name the Unit States President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a series of economic programme he initiated between 1933-1936 with the goal of giving work to the unemployed of business and financial practices and recovery of the economy during The Great Depression. The first new deal of 1933 was aimed at short-team recovery programs of all groups.
3. Paragraph 6 refers to “the bombs” falling on “our harbor”. Which bombs and which harbor is B. Obama referring to? (par. 6) The Japanese bombs in Pearl Harbour during the Second World War.
4. What was the “Montgomery bus boycott”? (par. 7) The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political and social protest campaign started in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, intended to oppose the city’s policy of radical segregation on its public transmit system
5. To know who the “preacher from Atlanta” was, check
The preacher form Atlanta was Martin Luther King, Jr
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html
6. When did the Berlin wall fall down? The Berlin wall fell down in 1989
7. What happened in the Edmund Pettus Bridge, outside Selma, in 1965?
They were the culmination of the voting rights movement in Selma, Alabama. Boynton her husband brought many prominent leaders of the American Civil Rights Movement to Selma, including Dr, Martin Luther King, James Bevel and Hosea Williams. Bloody Sunday occurred on March 7,1965, when 600 civil rights marchers were attacked by state and local police.
8. To understand the reference to the Birmingham hoses, check:
Birmingham hoses were the anti-segregation demonstrators lie on the sidewalk to protect themselves from firemen with high pressure water hoses.
http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/features/moore/pressureFrame.shtml
Vocabulary to look up:
Ballot: vot
Cast a ballot: votar
Slavery: Esclavitud
Creed: Credo
Despair: Desesperació
Conquer: Conquerir
Witness: Testificar/Testimoni/ Presenciar
Preacher: Predicador
Sum up: En conclusió
More Vocabulary:
Heartache: Mal de cor
Throughout: Durant
Tyranny: Tirania
Threatened: Amenaçar
Chance: oportunitat
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