I became aware of how the world is and how the white establishment plays black people against each other.
CLAUDETTE COLVINI became aware of how the world is and how the white establishment plays black people against each other.
CLAUDETTE COLVINBeing dragged off that bus was worth it just to see Barack Obama become president, because so many others gave their lives and didn’t get to see it, and I thank God for letting me see it.
CLAUDETTE COLVINWhen I told my mother I was pregnant, I thought she was going to have a heart attack.
CLAUDETTE COLVINI left the South in 1963 and was living in Morristown, New Jersey, when the March on Washington took place, so I watched it on television instead.
CLAUDETTE COLVINThe light-skinned girls always thought they were better looking. So did the teachers, too. That meant most of the dark complexion ones didn’t like themselves.
CLAUDETTE COLVINI was about four years old the first time I ever saw what happened when you acted up to whites.
CLAUDETTE COLVINWhen you’ve been abused daily and you see people humiliated and harassed, you just get tired of it.
CLAUDETTE COLVINA lot of African American women wanted to emulate white women. But I said in my mind, rationally thinking, there is no way you are going to get your hair that straight, especially in the summer.
CLAUDETTE COLVINI never swore when I was young.
CLAUDETTE COLVINWe were churchgoing people.
CLAUDETTE COLVINI’ve always told my children that once they go out into the world, they must have two heads and two minds: one to keep grounded, the other to deal with corporate America.
CLAUDETTE COLVINI sleep when the sleep comes down on me.
CLAUDETTE COLVINI wanted the young African-American girls also on the bus to know that they had a right to be there, because they had paid their fare just like the white passengers.
CLAUDETTE COLVINI always tell young people to hold on to their dreams. And sometimes you have to stand up for what you think is right even if you have to stand alone.
CLAUDETTE COLVINThat was worse than stealing, you know, talking back to a white person.
CLAUDETTE COLVINI wanted to be an attorney. My mother would say I never stopped talking. I always had a lot of questions to ask, and I was never satisfied with the answer. A lot of things I wasn’t satisfied by.
CLAUDETTE COLVIN