Dreams of the ‘Beloved Community’
image credit: US National Archives & Records Administration
August 2013 marked the 50th anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s monumental ‘I have a dream’ speech which spoke about all God’s people living in freedom and peace in a world governed by truth and justice.
Dr King joined over 250,000 of his fellow Americans that day in Washington to commemorate the centenary of President Abraham Lincoln’s ‘Emancipation Proclamation’ to free African-Americans. Lincoln, who was the USA’s 16th President, is often known as the Great Emancipator for his historic act.
Dr King was in Washington to argue that the freedoms promised by President Lincoln to the newly-emancipated African-Americans never really materialised, and the March on Washington was an attempt to encourage all Americans to re-commit themselves to the Emancipation Proclamation’s original promise. Dr King’s speech still remains an inspirational call for us to work for an equitable world.
Resources
Our resource pack for 2013 offers a service for all ages together, with a range of ideas and activities around the theme of dreams, visions and the ‘Beloved Community’.
Correction to the resource pack
Unfortunately, due to copyright reasons, the video of Dr King’s speech mentioned in the resource pack has been removed from YouTube. However, you can listen to a recording of his speech – see below.
‘I have a dream’
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute has an annotated version of the ‘I have a dream’ speech where you can compare the written and spoken versions.
