there, but themarchers took that chance so that they could accept the responsibilities of first classcitizens. The Negro, King said in this speech, "lives on a lonely island of poverty in themidst of a vast ocean of material prosperity and finds himself an exile in his own land."King continued. "It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the momentand to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of theNegros legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn offreedom and equality." ( King 8). When King came to the end of his prepared text, heswept right on into an exhibition of impromptu oratory that was catching, dramatic, andinspirational (King 4)"I have a dream," King cried out. The crowd began cheering, but king, neverpausing, brought silence as he continued, "I have a dream that one day on the red hills ofGeorgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sitdown together at the table of brotherhood." (King 18)Everyone agreed the march was a success and they wanted action now. But, now remained a long way off. President Kennedy was never able to mobilizesufficient support to pass a civil rights bill with teeth over the opposition ofsegregationist southern members of congress. But after his assassination, PresidentJohnson, drawing on the Kennedy legacy and on the press coverage of civil rightsmarches and protests, succeeded where Kennedy had failed (Consort 161)Straughn 3However, by the summer of 1964, the black revolution had created its own crisisof disappointed expectations. Rioting by urban blacks was to be a feature of every "long,hot, summer" of the mid-1960s (Consort 87).In 1965, King and other black leaders wanted to push beyond social integration,now guaranteed under the previous year's civil rights law, to political rights, mainlysouthern blacks' rights to register and vote. King picked a tough Alabama town to tackle:Se...
