Chapter 3: I Have a Dream (1955-64) Summary and Analysis

Three ideas formed King's understand of the American dream: his image of "North" and "South" and the role of black people in that relationship, the creation of black resistance among Southern blacks, and the emergence of black nationalism in the North. In the South, King and many blacks saw themselves in Old Testament terms. They were the Jews in Egypt—the South—who wished to escape to Canaan—the North. Southern states repressed blacks violently for decades; in 1954, when school segregation was ended, the North's power was brought forward in King's mind. The lynching of 14 year old Emmet Till symbolized the South. Freedom was available to blacks, just over the hill. The idea of the American dream was also intended (in part) to contrast with Muhammad and Malcolm...