In this Inaugural Diversity Lecture I trace the diversity struggles in my own life over the past 46 years since the historic 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech of Martin Luther King, which has changed this nation forever. After a brief personal history, the paper is divided into three major parts; "My consciousness raising years", "Fulfilling the dream", and NIH Minority Scholars Program. The paper ends with some concluding thoughts on the importance of being taken seriously.