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Obama addressed the nation at the 'Let Freedom Ring' commemoration in Washington D.C. on Wednesday
- The address reflected on how far the country has come since King's speech on August 28, 1963
- Civil-rights leader Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, the only surviving speaker from 1963 event, also spoke, as did Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton and members of the King family
- Thousands of people marched to the Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday morning for 'jobs and justice'
- Countries such as Japan, Nepal and the UK are also marking the day; bells rang across the U.S. at 3pm
President Barack Obama has urged America to continue fighting for the equal nation Martin Luther King Jr. envisioned as he delivered a rousing speech marking 50 years since the activist's iconic 'I Have a Dream' address.
Speaking from beneath the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, the president celebrated how far America has come since Dr King's speech on August 28, 1963 - but said there was still much to be done to honor the lives that were lost during the civil rights movement.
'They did not die in vain,' he said to the crowds gathered below. 'Their victory was great. But we would dishonor those heroes to suggest that the work of this nation is somehow complete. To secure the gains that this country has made requires constant vigilance... Inequality has steadily risen over the decades. Upward mobility has become harder.'
He added that economic inequality - in which black unemployment is nearly twice that of white unemployment - and a country where many citizens still struggle to afford healthcare 'remains our great unfinished business'.
Passion: President Barack Obama speaks at the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington
Celebration: Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and former US Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter wave during the Let Freedom Ring Commemoration
'When we turn not from each other or on each other but towards one another and we find we do not walk alone - that's where courage comes from,' he said. 'And with that courage we can stand together for good jobs and just wages... for the right to healthcare... for the right of every child to get an education that stirs the mind and captures the spirit and prepares them for the world that awaits them.
'America, I know the road will be long but I know we can get there. We will stumble but I know we'll get back up.'
Obama previously said that half a century after the march is a good time to reflect on how far the country has to go, particularly after the Trayvon Martin shooting trial in Florida. The devastated parents and brother of the slain teen also attended the D.C. event on Wednesday.
His speech followed impassioned addresses from former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, who also commented on just how far the country still has to achieve, with Clinton saying: 'A great democracy does not make it harder to vote than buy an assault weapon.'
'It is time to stop complaining and put our shoulders against the stubborn gates holding the American people back,' he said. 'We must push open those stubborn gates... While racial divides persist... the whole American landscape is littered with the dashed hopes of all races.'
President Carter gave thanks to Dr King not for just helping to freeing black people but for 'helping to free all people.'
'He was the greatest leader that my native state - and my native country - has ever produced and I was not excluding presidents and the founding fathers when I said this,' he said. 'There's a tremendous agenda ahead of us and I'm thankful to Martin Luther King that his dream is still alive.'
The former leaders were joined on the stage - where King delivered his speech 50 years ago - by the civil rights activist's closest family members, including his sister, daughter, son and friend, Rep. John Lewis - an original freedom rider who appeared alongside Dr King at his 1963 speech.
'We are not going to be discouraged, we are not going to be distracted, we are not going to be defeated,' his sister, Christine King Farris, said of the continued fight for equality.
Remembering: President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton and former President Jimmy Carter arrive at the Let Freedom Ring ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington
Event: Obama and Michelle Obama clap with former Clinton, Oprah Winfrey and Caroline Kennedy, after the national anthem was played at the ceremony
Joy: Both Carter and Clinton celebrated how far the U.S. has come because of Martin Luther King - but agreed that the country still faces major challenges
In his speech to the crowd, Rep. John Lewis - an original freedom rider who was at the 1963 address - shared his memories of the time and the country's progress since.
'When I look out over this diverse crowd, it seems to realize what Martin Luther King preached about,' he said. 'This moment in our history has been a long time coming but a change has come.
'We have come a great distance in this country in the 50 years but we still have a great distance to go before we fulfill the dreeam of Martin Luther King.'
Of Dr King, he added: 'He taught us the way of peace, the way of love, the way of non violence. He taught us to stand up, to speak up, to speak out, to find a way to get in the way... He changed us forever.'
Of Dr King, he added: 'He taught us the way of peace, the way of love, the way of non violence. He taught us to stand up, to speak up, to speak out, to find a way to get in the way... He changed us forever.'
But he added there still remained injustices.
'We must never give up, we must never ever give in, we must keep our eyes on the prize,' he said. 'We are one people, we are one America. We all live in one house... When we finally accept this as true, then we will be able to fulfill Martin Luther King's dream - to live in a community.'
Impassioned: Thousands of people gather for a march 'For Jobs and Justice' down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC on Wednesday morning - the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr's iconic speech
Back then: Martin Luther King Jr., center left with arms raised, marches along Constitution Avenue with other civil rights protestors from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963
Living on: Students with the Dupont Park Adventist School take part in the march in Washington D.C. on Wednesday
Together: John Mbugua and his son Giovanni Mbugua, 6, (both left)of San Jose, California, and Lavon Johnson and his son Mason Johnson, 2, of Fort Meade Maryland, greet one another while marching with thousands of other people from Capitol Hill
Proud: Joyce Elliotte of Temple Hills, Maryland, joins thousands of people on the march to the Lincoln Memorial during the 'Let Freedom Ring Commemoration and Call to Action'
Organizers said sites in nearly every state will ring their bells at 3 p.m. their time Wednesday or at 3 p.m. EDT, the hour when King delivered his speech.
Commemorations are planned from Washington to the far reaches of Alaska, where participants plan to ring cow bells along with church bells in Juneau.
Commemorations are planned from Washington to the far reaches of Alaska, where participants plan to ring cow bells along with church bells in Juneau.
On August 28, 1963, as King was wrapping up his speech at the Lincoln Memorial, he quoted from the patriotic song, 'My Country 'tis of Thee.'
King implored his audience to 'let freedom ring' from the hilltops and mountains of every state in the nation, some of which he cited by name.
'When we allow freedom to ring - when we let it ring from every city 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 Negro spiritual, Free at last, free at last, great God almighty, we are free at last,' King said.
Ahead of Obama's speech, famous faces appeared on the stage, including actor Jamie Foxx and Rev. Al Sharpton, while Leann Rimes and Natalie Grant gave singing performances.
The speeches came after thousands of people took to the streets in Washington D.C. today to march for 'Jobs and Justice' - exactly 50 years after Martin Luther King, Jr. led supporters to the Lincoln Memorial before delivering his famous 'I have a Dream' speech.
In stirring scenes, people from across the country cheered and shook hands as they marched towards the Washington D.C. monument, retracing the steps Dr King and other civil rights activists took during the March on Washington on August 28, 1963 - which also happened to be a Wednesday.
To mark its 50th anniversary, cities across the U.S. are remembering Dr King and reiterating his message of economic justice, racial equality and hope.
International commemorations will be held at London's Trafalgar Square, as well as in Japan, Switzerland, Nepal and Liberia. London Mayor Boris Johnson has said King's speech resonates around the world and continues to inspire people as one of the great pieces of oratory.
Some of the sites that will host ceremonies are symbolic, such as the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka, Kansas, a monument to the landmark Supreme Court case that outlawed segregated schools in 1954. Bells will also be rung at Lookout Mountain in Tennessee and Stone Mountain in Georgia, a site with a Confederate memorial that King referenced in his speech.
In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker's office planned to join the commemorations by ringing a 'virtual bell' online. Meanwhile in Baltimore, a performer reenacted King's 'Dream' speech at City Hall.
Idol: Obama, left, will emulate one of his heroes, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, right, when he addresses crowds at the commemoration today
Famous speech: Martin Luther King waves to supporters on 28 August 1963 on the Mall in Washington DC during the March on Washington
Day of remembrance: The family of slain teenager Trayvon Martin - parents Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin and their son Jahvaris - arrive at the commemoration event in DC
Performance: Trayvon Martin's parents perform with Peter Yarrow, left, and Paul Stookey, right, of the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary at the Lincoln Memorial
Heartfelt: Singer LeAnn Rimes performs during the 50th anniversary of the 'March on Washington' on Wednesday afternoon
Star power: Actor Jamie Foxx speaks at the Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday afternoon as crowds gather for the 50th Anniversary events
Determined: Audience members, left, sing during the benediction, while a woman by the Lincoln Memorial makes her third trip to the march
Starting young: Robby Novak, also known as Kid President, and National Park National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis take the stage at the Lincoln Memorial to speak at the anniversary event
Outspoken: Rev. Al Sharpton told the crowds: 'Just like our mothers and fathers beat Jim Crow, we will beat James Crow Jr. Esq.'
Impassioned: Melanie Campbell, president & CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, was among the early speakers. The bell behind her rang at the 16th St Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama which was bombed 18 days after the March On Washington, killing four young girls
It is thought that Obama will speak roughly 50 years to the minute since Dr King delivered the famous speech.
It is unclear what Obama, who keeps a bust of Dr King and a framed program from that day, in the Oval Office, will say during his speech, which he is said to have written himself, but it is believed that his address will aim to relate today's youth with the struggles of the 1960s Civil Rights movement.
He told Tom Joyner and co-host Sybil Wilkes of the Tom Joyner Morning Show yesterday that King 'would be amazed in many ways at the progress that we've made'.
He added: 'When you are talking about Dr. King's speech at the March on Washington, you're talking about one of the maybe five greatest speeches in American history.
'And the words that he spoke at that particular moment, with so much at stake, and the way in which he captured the hopes and dreams of an entire generation I think is unmatched.'
Although Dr King was shot dead in Memphis, Tennessee, five years after his speech, many believe that Obama's election as the first African-American U.S President was a giant step towards his dream being realized.
Together: People crowd near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, to take part in a commemorating of the 50th anniversary on the March on Washington
Across the world: A youngster makes a reading after children took part in a 'freedom ring' bell-ringing ceremony in Trafalgar Square, London on Wednesday
History: Children take part in the bell-ringing ceremony in London to mark 50 years since Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his 'I Have A Dream' speech
Commemorated: A banner is seen near the tomb of Martin Luther King Jr and his wife Coretta Scott King in Atlanta, Georgia on Wednesday
Remembered: The tomb of the slain civil rights leader and his wife Coretta Scott King is seen in Atlanta, Georgia on the 50th anniversary of his iconic speech
Battling the weather: People carrying umbrellas gather at the National Mall to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Dr King's speech
The march and its effects are credited with helping pass the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965, both of which insured equal rights for all U.S. citizens.
The President himself credits the actions of people like King for the opportunity to become the current incumbent at the White House.
Valerie Jarrett, one of Obama's senior advises, said of the President: 'He stands on the shoulders of Martin Luther King, and the sacrifices that King made that make a President Obama possible are deeply humbling to him,
Education Secretary Arne Duncan said: 'Tomorrow, just like 50 years ago, an African-American man will stand on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and speak about civil rights and justice.
'But afterward, he won't visit the White House. He'll go home to the White House. That's how far this country has come. A black president is a victory that few could have imagined 50 years ago.'
For Obama, the march is a 'seminal event' and part of his generation's 'formative memory.'
A half century after the march, he said, is a good time to reflect on how far the country has come and how far it still has to go, particularly after the Trayvon Martin shooting trial in Florida.
Getting ready: Chairs, metal risers and video screens are set up at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Tuesday in preparation for the 50th anniversary
Icon: An Osprey military helicopter flies by the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington on Tuesday morning, hours ahead of the ceremony
Appreciating: Tourists stand in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Tuesday as preparations for the event continue outside
Remembering: Stanley Samuels and Rita Samuels, from Atlanta, Georgia, left, and Sammie Whiting-Ellis, from Washington, wait for the anniversary program to begin as they attend the March on Washington
High spirits: Audience members sit in the rain as they wait for remembrance of the March on Washington in front of the Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday
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