When Martin Luther King Jr. stood at the Lincoln Memorial to give his famous, 1963, “I Have a Dream” speech, the address was about the question of the “American Dream” more that it was about any other subject.

     Politicians, social activists, writers, philosophers, and a wide range of Americans have, at various times, offered their unique perspectives on the question of what American Dream means. As can be gleaned from the preceding pages, creative artists from all over America have not been left out in that conversation that has animated discussions since the founding of America. Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed from the mountain top, his desire to see an America that recognized its black population as equal citizens. I found it quite interesting that the earliest recorded literature has allusions to the idea of American Dream. Even more interesting is the discovery that what the early settlers conceived as their version of American Dream had very little to do with the accumulation of  material possessions. Rather, they dreamed of an ideal nation whose ethos were defined by divine providence and family values. As time passed, writers used their respective artistic voices to lend credence to the desire for a more perfect union.       

     African American writers craved dignity and respect, women writers pleaded for equality, and other minority groups yearned for a more inclusive society. Perhaps I missed something, but I found it striking that American literature fails to recognize itself as a product of a nation of immigrants. It will not be an overstatement to say that Native Americans are underrepresented in American literature. But the fact that all the portrayals of American Dream pick up from the arrival of the earliest European settlers, and almost entirely excludes the “dreams” of Native Americans, is troubling. All the allusions to American Dream, both by the dominant and the by marginalized groups seem to speak from their unique experiences and to values that are exclusive of Native Americans. Unless I am proved wrong, I think that there is yet a lot to explore and include in the never ending conversation about what American Dream means to us as a nation of immigrants.

     The power of the pen has featured very strongly in the making of America as a nation. That power is still being exerted. We the people of the 21st century continue to dream and aspire, like the founding fathers, for an america where everyone not only has the right to dream, and dream big, but where the opportunity also exists for our dreams to be realized.