One of my students celebrating the end of exams cheered--"free at last! free at last! thank God almighty, I am free at last." I don't know as we should be comparing law school to the horror that was Jim Crow, but, here's evidence that "I Have a Dream" is a core part of American culture, that's for sure. And upon hearing that I had a feeling probably pretty similar to Ralph Ellison seeing a young African American man walking in Harlem wearing a cap with the Confederate flag on it (which Ellison described in his 1990 speech at Columbia University): what a strange juxtaposition of images!
Anyway, that set me to listening to that great speech and then led me to this question, what exactly, was the spiritual that Dr. King was referring to? ... Well, "Free At Last." Here are the lyrics, courtesy of the US Department of State:
Free at last, free at last,
Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last.
The very time I thought I was lost,
Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last;
My dungeon shook and my chains fell off,
Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last,
This is religion, I do know,
Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last;
For I never felt such a love before,
Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last.
Alfred Brophy
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