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. But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the ongoing struggle for African American freedom and justice since the Emancipation Proclamation.
In this powerful statement, Martin Luther King, Jr. acknowledges the historical significance of the Emancipation Proclamation as a pivotal moment in the fight against slavery. However, he starkly points out that even a century later, African Americans are still faced with systemic injustices and lack of true freedom, emphasizing the need for continued activism and courage in the pursuit of equality and civil rights.
In practice
Use this quote to highlight the importance of social justice during a civil rights rally.
This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love.
Music is the best consolation for a despaired man
We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love.
We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
Israel... is one of the great outpost of democracy in the world
One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.
I always liked to chase the girls. Parkinson's stops all that. Now I might have a chance to go to heaven.
Brave men do not gather by thousands to torture and murder a single individual, so gagged and bound he cannot make even feeble resistance or defense.
A true knight is fuller of bravery in the midst, than in the beginning of danger.
Is it a crime, to fight, for what is mine?
If somebody's trying to shut you up, sing louder, and if possible, better.
I'm not afraid to take a stand. Everybody come take my hand. We'll walk this road together, through the storm. Whatever weather, cold or warm. Just let you know that, you're not alone. Holla if you feel that you've been down the same road.
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