A step toward freedom Jan 18, 2021

A step toward freedom

This inscription marks the spot on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, where civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. stood while delivering his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. It was August 28, 1963, and King was addressing a quarter-million people spread across the National Mall during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. King referred to written notes for most of the speech, but as he neared the end of his prepared remarks, he heard gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, who was standing nearby, shout out, "Tell them about the dream, Martin!" King responded by partly improvising the rest of his message in a soaring, sermon-like delivery, punctuating his ideas repeatedly with that single phrase, "I have a dream." King"s dream for racial justice, so eloquently shared that day, would resonate through the crowd and across the nation, bringing passionate new energy to the civil rights movement. It still resonates today.

© Pgiam/Getty Images

palette

Today in History

Jan 18, 2018Entoloma hochstetteri mushroom at Lake Mahinapua, New Zealand
Jan 18, 2019An opulent backdrop for a historic event
Jan 18, 2020Sands of time
Jan 18, 2022Winnie-the-Pooh Day
Jan 18, 2023White Sands National Park turns 90
Jan 18, 2024Pont Alexandre III, Paris, France
Jan 18, 2025Dunes at White Sands National Park, New Mexico
Jan 18, 2026White Sands National Park, New Mexico

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Dec 19, 2019Winter at Valley Forge
Oct 29, 2019And the skies filled with bats…
Oct 22, 2022Guilin and Lijiang River National Park, China
Jul 4, 2019It s Independence Day
May 15, 2022Lunar eclipse
Feb 23, 2018Aerial view of the Colorado River Delta in Mexico
Aug 1, 2020Where fire meets water
Jan 19, 2026Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Sep 10, 2019Welcome to my neck of the woods
Mar 5, 2025Khao Sok National Park in Thailand
Dec 18, 2021Full moon
Jun 22, 2022World Rainforest Day
Dec 26, 2025Boxing Day
Jul 1, 2024Canada Day
Feb 14, 2022Maldives
Apr 25, 2020Rockin with the rockhoppers
Jan 15, 2020Harvest season begins
Jun 16, 2020In the footsteps of Leopold Bloom
Feb 12, 2022Darwin s Arch
Jan 30, 2022Halo around the sun
May 26, 2019Racing toward history
Jan 22, 2022Martinique
Jul 25, 2019Jane’s Carousel delights
Apr 23, 2022World Book Day
Apr 24, 2022Dark Sky Week
Jun 25, 2023Al-Khazneh in Petra, Jordan
Sep 2, 2024Celebrating Labor Day
May 13, 2024Fish River Canyon, Namibia
Nov 22, 2018Tom Turkey takes Manhattan
Jun 4, 2025The beach at Cala Luna, Sardinia, Italy