28 August 1963 · Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.
Martin Luther King Jr.: I Have a Dream
The setting
At the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, before a crowd of some 250,000 people, Martin Luther King Jr. set aside part of his prepared text to describe his vision of a nation free of racial injustice.
Key passage
...not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
Speech at the Lincoln Memorial, 28 August 1963. Quoted briefly: the full text is still under copyright.
What followed
The march helped build support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed segregation and protected the right of Black Americans to vote. King was assassinated in Memphis in 1968.