March on Washington: Commonly referred to as the March on Washington, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom brought over 200,000 people to the nation’s capitol to protest racial discrimination and show support for civil rights legislation that was pending in Congress. The March on Washington took place on August 28, 1963. (Photo Credit: Getty)

Thousands are expected to head to the Washington Mall today to join a rally and participate in a march to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. The march will leave the Lincoln Memorial, pass the memorial to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and travel to the Washington Monument where Dr. King gave his iconic “I Had A Dream” speech. Read the full text of the speech here: http://historywired.si.edu/detail.cfm?ID=501

From the King speech:

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that, let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi and every mountainside.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every tenement 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 spiritual, “Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”