In this speech King shares his dream for America; he says that he hopes and has faith that this dream will come true, so it is also a prediction. The dream or prediction has the following elements:
- the equality spoken of in the Declaration of Independence is a reality for all citizens.
- the descendants of former slaves and the descendants of former slave owners treat each other like brothers.
- no one is judged by external qualities like skin color; people are only judged by their inward character.
- children of all races play together without sensing any differences among themselves because of their skin color.
- true freedom is experienced by all people in every region of the country.
Speaking in 1963, over 50 years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr., made these predictions for how life would look in America in the future. Less than a year after this speech, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, with Martin Luther King, Jr., in attendance. The law made it illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The next year, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 became law, which outlawed practices designed to make it harder for blacks to vote. Within two years of King's speech, the country had taken great strides towards making King's predictions for the future a reality.
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