ER SEEING HIS/HER TV SCREEN, TURNED INTO A CIVIL RIGHTS SUPPORTER. BLACK UNITY AND WHITE SUPPORT CONTINUED TO GROW. IN 1962, WITH THE FIRST LARGE-SCALE PUBLIC PROTEST AGAINST RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, REV. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. GAVE A DRAMATIC AND INSPIRATIONAL SPEECH IN WASHINGTON, D.C. AFTER A LONG MARCH OF THOUSANDS TO THE CAPITAL. THE POSSIBILITY OF RIOT AND BLOODSHED WAS ALWAYS THERE, BUT THE MARCHERS TOOK THAT CHANCE SO THAT THEY COULD ACCEPT THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF FIRST CLASS CITIZENS. "THE NEGRO," KING SAID IN THIS SPEECH, "LIVES ON A LONELY ISLAND OF POVERTY IN THE MIDST OF A VAST OCEAN OF MATERIAL PROSPERITY AND FINDS HIMSELF AN EXILE IN HIS OWN LAND." KING CONTINUED STOLIDLY: "IT WOULD BE FATAL FOR THE NATION TO OVERLOOK THE URGENCY OF THE MOMENT AND TO UNDERESTIMATE THE DETERMINATION OF THE NEGRO. THIS SWELTERING SUMMER OF THE NEGRO'S LEGITIMATE DISCONTENT WILL NOT PASS UNTIL THERE IS AN INVIGORATING AUTUMN OF FREEDOM AND EQUALITY." (BURNSTIEN P.176) WHEN KING CAME TO THE END OF HIS PREPARED TEXT, HE SWEPT RIGHT ON INTO AN EXHIBITION OF IMPROMPTU ORATORY THAT WAS CATCHING, DRAMATIC, AND INSPIRATIONAL. "I HAVE A DREAM," KING CRIED OUT. THE CROWD BEGAN CHEERING, BUT KING, NEVER PAUSING, BROUGHT SILENCE AS HE CONTINUED, "I HAVE A DREAM THAT ONE DAY ON THE RED HILLS OF GEORGIA THE SONS OF FORMER SLAVES AND THE SONS OF FORMER SLAVEOWNERS WILL BE ABLE TO SIT DOWN TOGETHER AT THE TABLE OF BROTHERHOOD." "I HAVE A DREAM," HE WENT ON, RELENTLESSLY SHOUTING DOWN THE THUNDEROUS SWELL OF APPLAUSE, "THAT EVEN THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, A STATE SWELTERING WITH PEOPLE'S INJUSTICES, SWELTERING WITH THE HEAT OF OPPRESSION, WILL BE TRANSFORMED INTO AN OASIS OF FREEDOM AND JUSTICE. I HAVE DREAM," CRIED KING FOR THE LAST TIME, "THAT MY FOUR LITTLE CHILDREN WILL ONE DAY LIVE IN A NATION WHERE THEY WILL NOT BE JUDGED BY THE COLOR OF THEIR SKIN BUT BY THE CONTENT OF THEIR CHARACTER." (GARRATY P. 278) EVERYONE AGREED THE MARCH WAS A SUCCESS AND THEY ...
