The speech "I Have a Dream," delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1963, is a call for economic and social equality between Black and White Americans, and freedom from racist laws and threats of violence. King specifically calls for equal rights such as the right for African Americans to vote in the southern states, and integration of schools and neighborhoods. The speech contains references to the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, documents which promise all Americans rights to freedom and equal opportunity, to argue that African Americans deserve the same access to rights and freedoms as all other Americans. Throughout the speech, King outlines his dream of a future in which people of different races coexist in harmony, with equal rights and access to opportunity.
Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
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