“When I see the leadership roles black women are taking today I am very encouraged.”

I will always work for human rights for all people.

Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today’s mighty oak is yesterday’s nut that held its ground.

There is no future without education.

When people made up their minds that they wanted to be free and took action, then there was a change.

I paid the same fare as others, and I felt violated. I was not going back.

Have you ever been hurt and the place tries to heal a bit, and you just pull the scar off of it over and over again.

I believe we are here on the planet Earth to live, grow up and do what we can to make this world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom.

Our mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it.

If I can sit down for freedom, you can stand up for children.

I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.

I learned to put my trust in God and to see Him as my strength.

I think when you say you’re happy, you have everything that you need and everything that you want, and nothing more to wish for.

Knowing what must be done does away with fear.

Without vision, the people will perish, and without courage and inspiration, dreams will die – the dream of freedom and peace.

I will no longer act on the outside in a way that contradicts the truth that I hold deeply inside. I will no longer act as if I were less than the whole person I know myself inwardly to be.

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.

It could have been worse. I could have been born black.

I am a Negro: Black as the night is black, Black like the depths of my Africa.

When white and black meet today, sometimes there is a ready understanding that there has been an encounter between two human beings. But often there is only, or chiefly, an awareness that Two Colors are in the room.

Negro blood is sure powerful, because just one drop of black blood makes a colored man. One drop–you are a Negro! . . . Black is powerful.

Why should I want to be white? I am a Negro – and beautiful!

One lady told me that before she saw ‘Sounder’ she didn’t believe black people could love each other, have deep relationships in the same way as white people.

A world I dream where black or white, Whatever race you be, Will share the bounties of the Earth And every man is free.

Don’t let anyone call you a minority if you’re black or Hispanic or belong to some other ethnic group. You’re not less than anybody else.