It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us; that from these honoured dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and the government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.

In the space of two years the negro has shown the world what he can do by establishing the first steamship line owned by the members of our race. We have established the Negro Factories Corporation to show the world that the black man can succeed in business, and our next project will be, while we build the steamship line and lay the basis of black enterprise, our next project will be to build a great African Republic in Liberia…So, go ye forth from this convention, build up your organisations in the South, in the Caribbean Islands, in Central and South America and in the great continent of Africa. Arise and build to the great destiny that awaits you. Up you mighty race, you can accomplish what you will!

Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior, is finally, and permanently, discredited and abandoned; until there are no first class and second class citizens of any nature; until the colour of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes; until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; until that day, the dream of lasting peace, world citizenship, and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion to be pursued but never obtained.

The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world move forward into broad, sunlit, uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age, made more sinister and perhaps more protracted, by the light of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’

Now the trumpet summons us again; not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are; but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation; a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.’ I have a dream that one day on the Red Hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day, even the State of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will be judged not by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!

Certain powers have gone to the length of inciting our armed forces to mutiny and our police to rebel. The fact that our defense forces and the police are disciplined and deeply patriotic and therefore will not be taken in, does not mitigate the seriousness of the provocation. The forces of disintegration are in full play and communal passions are being aroused, threatening our unity. All manner of false allegations have been hurled at me. The Indian people have known me since my childhood. All my life has been in the service of our people. This is not a personal matter. It is not important whether I remain Prime Minister or not. However, the institution of the Prime Minister is important, and the political attempt to denigrate it is not in the interest of democracy or of the nation.

My Comrades and friends. Finally, we face a long hard road, we face tremendous problems, but our eyes are fixed on the mountaintops of a dream, a dream of a new kind of society based on principles of brotherhood, of equality, of respect for people, of love for children, and of working together for the good of all mankind. The path of progress, the path of revolution, does not proceed in a straight line. Sometimes the road will turn, there will be obstacles, but our eyes are fixed on that mountaintop and our feet are marching on that road. And I want you to know, that every step you take, you do not take alone, because the feet of the Jamaican people are marching beside you. And one day we will stand together on that mountaintop, and we will look back down that road, and we shall say, together, that we have overcome.

We aspire to a free society of free nations in which all countries large and small, will have equal rights. We will defend our points of view as we have defended them up to now, as well as our path, and we will stand firm to be measured by our actions and our deeds. And nothing can turn us away from that path. It is not an easy thing to do in the midst of today’s problems and complexities in the world today. It is difficult to maintain this inflexible independence, but we will maintain it…We live in a complex and dangerous world. The risks of this world we will face with dignity and serenity. Our fate will be the fate of other countries and our fate will be the fate of the world.

The day may not be far when we will borrow the words of Thomas Jefferson and speak of the will of the South African Nation. In the exercise of that will, by this united nation of black and white people, it must surely be that there will be born a country on the southern tip of Africa, which you will be proud to call a friend and an ally because of its contribution to the universal striving towards liberty, human rights, prosperity and peace among the people. Let that day come now. Let us keep our arms locked together so that we form a solid phalanx against racism, to ensure that that day comes now. By our common action let us ensure that justice triumphs without delay. When that day has come to pass, then shall we all be entitled to acknowledge the salute when others say of us, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’

We are glad the struggle has come this far. We understand that there can be no easy walk to freedom, but the journey has begun and the process of change cannot be reversed. We welcome you, Nelson Mandela, and your wife Winnie to our shores. We assure you that our support for the struggle continues and that the ANC anthem of resistance is now part of our own musical expression, Nkosi Sikelele L’ Africa. God Bless Africa!