1963 – Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech
We chose 1963 as a significant date because it was the year in which Martin Luther King made his famous “I have a dream” speech.
In his speech, King said that he had a dream that one day white and black children would walk together hand in hand and the sons of former slaves and slaveowners would be able to live in peace together.
King made this speech because the 1950s and 60s were a bad time for black Americans. They had been freed from slavery but they were not treated equally with whites. There were laws separating them. They were bullied, assaulted and even killed by the Ku Klux Klan because of the colour of their skin.
This speech was significant in history because it showed the whole world how unfairly back Americans were being treated. It was part of the wider Civil Rights Movement and King was all about non-violent methods of protest. The very next year Congress passed the Civil Rights Act which gave black Americans more equality than ever before. Unfortunately it didn’t stop racism and King was assassinated in 1968.