At this time, I have the honor to present to you the moral leader of our nation.

I have the pleasure to present to you, Dr. Martin Luther King, J.R.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration

for freedom in the history of our nation.

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 100 years later, the Negro still is not free.

100 years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles

of segregation and the chains of discrimination.

One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material

prosperity.

One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land.

And so we've come here today to dramatize the shameful condition.

In a sense, we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check

when the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution

and the Declaration of Independence. They were signing a promissory note to whichever American was to fall out.

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 America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned.

Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check,

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