Freedom Is A Hard-bought Thing

In Russia I Felt For The First Time Like A Full Human Being. No Color Prejudice Like In Mississippi, No Color Prejudice Like In Washington. It Was The First Time I Felt Like A Human Being.

With Othello, Shakespeare Posed This Problem Of A Black Man In A White Society In The Role That He's Playing. And Shakespeare Gave Othello Such Dignity - He Came Not From - As He Said - Not From Hate But From Honor, From A Sense Of His Own Human Dignity. And To Me, To My Mind, There Could Be No Greater Character Played.

To Be Free . . . To Walk The Good American Earth As Equal Citizens, To Live Without Fear, To Enjoy The Fruits Of Our Toil, To Give Our Children Every Opportunity In Life--that Dream Which We Have Held So Long In Our Hearts Is Today The Destiny That We Hold In Our Hands.

We Ask For Nothing That Is Not Ours By Right, And Herein Lies The Great Moral Power Of Our Demand.

Freedom Is A Hard-bought Thing And Millions Are In Chains, But They Strain Toward The New Day Drawing Near.