When we let 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!



The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, drawing more than 250,000 people, occurred 28 August 1963. The National Anthem sung by Marian Anderson. Invocation and benediction by eminent clergy. Remarks and addresses by heroic and storied figures. Mahalia Jackson singing "I've Been `Buked and I've Been Scorned." The momentous day culminated in the speech given on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.



Get a sense of the day and listen to the speech here.