“The only way for prejudiced people to change is for them to decide for themselves that all human beings should be treated fairly.”

I had decided that I would not go anywhere with a piece of paper in my hand asking white folks for any favors. I had made that decision myself, as an individual.

Nothing in the Golden Rule says that others will treat us as we have treated them. It only says that we must treat others in a way that we would want to be treated.

I want to be treated like a human being.

If I stayed angry at other people, I would miss finding friends among those I was angry with.

Why do you all push us around?

As long as we have bigotry and crime, we have work to do.

I was a person with dignity and self-respect, and I should not set my sights lower than anybody else just because I was black.

As long as people use tactics to oppress or restrict other people from being free, there is work to be done.

There is work to do; that is why I cannot stop or sit still.

We didn’t have any civil rights. It was just a matter of survival, of existing from one day to the next.

I see the energy of young people as a real force for positive change.

Black women are very capable of leading our organizations. I believe that firmly.

You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.

People need to free their minds of all racial prejudice.

There are restroom facilities for white ladies and colored women, white men and colored men. We stand outside after being served at the same ticket counter instead of sitting on the inside.

Time begins the healing process of wounds cut deeply by oppression.

If you have a dog, I must have a dog. If you have a rifle, I must have a rifle. If you have a club, I must have a club. This is equality.

We will fight, and we will win.

Color don’t tell if people Black. It’s the soul.

We’re going to fight racism not with racism, but we’re going to fight with solidarity. We say we’re not going to fight capitalism with black capitalism, but we’re going to fight it with socialism

It ain’t about black or white ‘cause we human.

I man don’t come red, I come Black

To divide people based on race, a color, a religion, a sexual orientation, it’s just wrong.

The white man’s happiness cannot be purchased by the black man’s misery.