There is a dream in the land With its back against the wall By muddled names and strange Sometimes the dream is called. There are those who claim This dream for theirs alone-— A sin for which we know They must atone. Unless shared in common Like sunlight and like air, The dream will die for lack Of substance anywhere. The dream knows no frontier or tongue, The dream, no class or race. The dream cannot be kept secure In any one locked place. This dream today embattled, With its back against the wall — To save the dream for one It must be saved for ALL — Our dream of freedom!
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Confirmed with Langston Hughes, The Collected Works of Langston Hughes, Volume 3, University of Missouri Press, 2001, p.250
Text Authorship:
- by Langston Hughes (1901 - 1967), "Dream of Freedom" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Gwyneth Walker (b. 1947), "Dream of Freedom", 2008, copyright © 2008 [ satb chorus and piano ], from Our Dream of Freedom, no. 4
Publisher: ECS Publishing [external link] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2026-02-20
Line count: 21
Word count: 112