In Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech given in 1963, the famous civil rights leader references the American dream and this has been a very important part of history in the United States and has, invariably, been interwoven with this country’s history and social movements. The American Dream is simple enough: it is the belief that everyone, regardless of class, has equal opportunity to make a good life. Most of the time, the American dream is connected with prosperity and material things–for example, the owning of land and a home being the oldest part of the dream that has been kept alive in the United States. The American dream is also, however, the dream of equality, that all men are created equal and therefore, all men and women, regardless of their gender, race, religion, or disabilities have a fair chance at enjoying the American dream. When King incorporated the American dream into his speech, he was effectively making the point that so far, the dream had been denied to those of African-American descent simply because of the color of their skin, and therefore, his dream was that one day, the American dream would extend to *all* men and women, regardless of the color of their skin.
In terms of whether American has accomplished the goals set forth in his speech, it is hard to really come up with a definitive answer. The United States has far more equality today than it did in the 1960’s–there is no longer segregation or blatant denial of jobs or schooling or housing because of race–but there is a long ways to go in some respects. The truth is, that as long as Americans are not all completely unbiased and unprejudiced, then the American dream will remain skewed by the way others perceive each other. Humans are not perfect, and neither is the country, but King’s point was that the dream continues to live on and as long as we remain faithful to working towards it, we are doing what needs to be done. It is when we stop believing in his dream of a better tomorrow that we lose all hope. This was the message given to the citizens of the United States and the government, and this is the message that has inspired thousands and millions of people to work towards equality in the United States, and which has kept the American dream alive.
