I have a dream* - Amanda Seyfried

Today is Martin Luther King Jr day - a public holiday in the US, marking the birthday of the civil rights activist. It is celebrated on the 3rd Monday of January every year.

Probably well remembered for his speech, "I have a dream" given on 28 August 1963 during a civil rights march in Washington, many say that it is fitting that tomorrow is the first day when President Obama takes into office - this is as close as the US have ever come to fulfilling the dream of Martin Luther King Jr.

Photo taken from Minnesota Public Radio site

Here are some excerpts from his speech:-

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

"I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood."

"This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day."

"Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children."

"Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring—when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children—black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics—will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

*The opening song of the musical Mamma Mia.