It's easy to focus on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s intellect and belief in non-violent protests. No doubt, these aspects of King Jr.'s character are central to his role as a Civil Rights leader. But, if we imagine what might appear on MLK's playlist, we can see that King Jr. was also firm in his convictions for change and quite vocal is his demands. In his "I Have a Dream" speech, King tells us, "America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

1. "Say It Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud)," James Brown.

Brown sings,

Some people say we've got a lot of malice
Some say it’s a lot of nerve
But I say we won't quit moving until we get what we deserve
We have been bucked and we have been scorned
We have been treated bad, talked about as just bones
But just as it takes two eyes to make a pair, ha
Brother we can’t quit until we get our share

James Brown's song sets the tone of the playlist by highlighting the message beneath the check-cashing metaphor of King Jr's speech, the message that the black community won't lay down and quit until it gets the civil rights promised to them by the United States Constitution.

2. "A Change is Gonna Come," by Sam Cooke.

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.



"I go to the movie, and I go downtown
Somebody keep tellin me 'don't hang around'
It's been a long, a long time coming, but i know
A change gon' come oh yes it will."

Sam Cooke's song "A Change is Gonna Come" and this part of Dr. King's speech is about how civil rights have been denied to the black community, but there is now a movement to make sure everyone receives the same rights.

3. "Does it Really Matter?" by Up With People.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

"Free at last, we should be free at last
Not prisoners of the past, divided by races.
Kind of strange, though we're all 'bout the same
Somehow these lines remain,
We stay in our places.
And what does the color of the skin
Have to do with the person within."

This song by the organization Up With People and this excerpt from Dr. King's speech are related because looking inside oneself to unite and fight for the rights of not just the black community, but everyone.

4. "One," by Creed.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.



"The goal is to be unified,
Take my hand be my brother...
Society blind by color,
Why hold down one to raise another...
One, Oh, one the only way is one."

"One" by Creed and this part of Dr. King's speech basically say the same thing, which is that everyone has to unite for civil rights, not just the black community.

5. "Erase Racism," by Kool G Rap, DJ Polo, Big Daddy Kane and Biz Markie.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.



"The ink is Black
The page is White
Together we learn how to read and write
Some people are Black
There's people that's White
Lets stop Racism and let's unite"

Both this lyric and that excerpt from Dr. King's speech are about uniting against racism to overcome it.

6. "Black and Blue," by Fats Waller.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

" I'm white inside.
But that don't help my case.
'Cause I can't hide
What is on my face.."

This song symbolizes one of the most quoted parts of Dr. King's speech. This song is about not judging one on what they look like, but about their character and personality.

7. "Colored People," by DC Talk.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.



"A piece of canvas is only the beginning for
It takes on character with every loving stroke
This thing of beauty is the passion of an Artist's heart
By God's design, we are a skin kaleidoscope
We've gotta come together,
Aren't we all human after all?"

The excerpt from Dr. King's speech is about how faith will unite the nation as a brotherhood. As this song and the lyric show, it is a faith of God that have united what DC Talk calls a "skin kaleidoscope."

8. "We Shall Be Free," by Garth Brooks.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village 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!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!


"When the last thing we notice is the color of skin
And the first thing we look for is the beauty within
When the skys and the oceans are clean again
Then we shall be free."

This Garth Brooks song represents that excerpt from Dr. King's speech because Brooks is singing that our nation cannot be free with accepting everyone accepting each other for who they are.