 His life cut short at the age of 39. But those 39 short years had changed America forever. The conscience of America had been touched. Across the land, people had begun to treat each other not as blacks and whites, but as fellow Americans. And in his words, from every mountainside, let freedom. Free from every hill and bold hill of mist. Sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave Will they be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood? I have a dream.