If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) was an American Christian minister and civil rights activist who led one of the greatest nonviolent movements in world history to attain legal equality for African Americans in the United States. Drawing on both his Christian faith and the nonviolent philosophies of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. King is widely regarded as a preeminent spokesperson for nonviolent activism. His “I Have a Dream” speech is among the most recognized and revered orations in the English language.