What does Martin Luther King quote mean to you?

Question

"This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of ***** slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity."

Answer 1

the end of slavery and a free america

Answer 2

What does the quote mean to me?  I shall tell you.

It is a poignant quotation from the famed "I Have a Dream" speech delivered the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963.

The quotation was delivered early in his speech.  He was referring to the "Emancipation Proclamation," signed by the President memorialized by the magnificent statue and building just behind the podium.

For me, as I listened to the speech being delivered on that hot August day nearly 45 years ago, it was a reminder that this country had permitted slavery within its borders. That this country had permitted, under the color of law, the hideous brutalization of a race of people.  

I was surprised when I heard Dr. King say, "It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity."  He seemed to me to be too forgiving.  

But my surprise lasted but a moment as he followed with these words: "But one hundred years later, the N**** still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the N**** is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the N**** lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the N**** is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land."

I knew then that he was reminding us that the "Emancipation Proclamation" may have ended some of the most overt injustices inflicted upon captive slaves, but that it had done far too little.  And that we were gathered in Washington, D.C. to protest the "shameful condition" that the descendants of slaves were subjected to every day.

Answer 3

This quote is talking about the Emancipation Proclamation.  (It is from his "I Have a Dream" speech, the line before mentioned the document.)  

He is talking about the hope that was given to slaves when the Emancipation Proclamation was passed, despite the fact that it basically did nothing.

He then goes on to say that freedom has not yet arrived, but that strength and perseverance will achieve it.