优秀的英语演讲稿范文

　　i am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as thegreatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

　　five score years ago, a great american, in whose symbolic shadow we standtoday, signed the emancipation proclamation. this momentous decree came as agreat beacon light of hope to millions of negro slaves who had been seared inthe flames of withering injustice. it came as a joyous daybreak to end the longnight of their captivity.

　　but one hundred years later, the negro still is not free. one hundred yearslater, the life of the negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles ofsegregation and the chains of discrimination. one hundred years later, the negrolives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of materialprosperity. one hundred years later, the negro is still languished in thecorners of american society and finds himself an exile in his own land. and sowe've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

　　in a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. when thearchitects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the constitution andthe declaration of independence, they were signing a promissory note to whichevery american was to fall heir. this note was a promise that all men, yes,black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable rights" of"life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." it is obvious today that americahas defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color areconcerned. instead of honoring this sacred obligation, america has given thenegro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficientfunds."

　　but we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. we refuse tobelieve that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity ofthis nation. and so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give usupon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

　　we have also come to this hallowed spot to remind america of the fierceurgency of now. this is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or totake the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. now is the time to make real thepromises of democracy. now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valleyof segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. now is the time to lift ournation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.now is the time to make justice a reality for all of god's children.

　　it would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.this sweltering summer of the negro's legitimate discontent will not pauntilthere is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. nineteen sixty-three isnot an end, but a beginning. and those who hope that the negro needed to blowoff steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nationreturns to busineas usual. and there will be neither rest nor tranquility inamerica until the negro is granted his citizenship rights. the whirlwinds ofrevolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright dayof justice emerges.

　　but there is something that i must say to my people, who stand on the warmthreshold which leads into the palace of justice: in the proceof gaining ourrightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. let us not seek tosatisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterneand hatred.we must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity anddiscipline. we must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physicalviolence. again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meetingphysical force with soul force.

　　the marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the negro community must notlead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, asevidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destinyis tied up with our destiny. and they have come to realize that their freedom isinextricably bound to our freedom.

　　we cannot walk alone.

　　and as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always marchahead.

　　we cannot turn back.

　　there are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "when will yoube satisfied?" we can never be satisfied as long as the negro is the victim ofthe unspeakable horrors of police brutality. we can never be satisfied as longas our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in themotels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. we cannot be satisfied aslong as a negro in mississippi cannot vote and a negro in new york believes hehas nothing for which to vote. no, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not besatisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousnelike a mightystream.