Questions about the Martin Luther King's speech

Two excerpt from Martin Luther King's speech:

1) This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice.


What's a withering injustice?

2)Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.
What is this word heir? I thought it was a name, how can it be used like in this situation?

to fall+ name??


Thanks !

Sam, 'withering' can used in a physical sense to describe plants that are being dried up and weakened by heat and lack of moisture. King was comparing the harmful effects of injustice to that.

>"a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir."
What is this word heir? I thought it was a name, how can it be used like in this situation?"

An 'heir' inherits something from an earlier generation. The "promissory note" (in this case the Declaration of Independence) said that "all men are created equal [in rights]", that they have "certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness". These are ideal rights, of course, only partially and gradually realized in real life. The slavery that existed at the time of the Declaration of Independence was partially abolished later by Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation (the "momentous decree"). King was claiming that the promise of equal rights needed to be further realized.

Thanks Gjones2 :), I'm really grateful!

You're welcome.