CIVIL RIGHTS - QUOTEScivil rights bill, for it is too little and too late. There's not one thing in...

CELEBRATING

THE CIVIL

RIGHTS MOVEMENT

OF THE 1960’S

CIVIL RIGHTS - QUOTES

CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS

Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth:

“We act today in full concert with our Hebraic-Christian tradition, the laws of morality and the Constitution of our nation…We appeal to the citizenry of Birmingham, Negro and white, to join us in the witness for decency, morality, self-respect and human dignity.”

Birmingham Manifesto – April 3, 1963

1922 – 2011

Civil Rights Leader


Rev. Maurice McCrackin: “I have no fear of prison. Being in prison gives me an insight into what confinement means. I am rebelling against a law in which the government has become part of a system which is evil and which threatens the existence of humanity.” Cincinnati AP – December 1, 1958

1905 – 1997

Civil Rights Leader/Activists


Rev. Clarence Joseph Rivers: “Some think that the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 was enacted because politicians wanted the support of Negro voters or to prevent fighting and bloodshed between the races. But the really important reason we needed the Civil Rights Bill is this: Segregation is wrong; it is immoral; and it violates justice and charity.”

Catholic Telegraph October 16, 1964

1931– 2004

Priest/Civil Rights

Activist


Coretta Scott King:

“My husband was a man who hoped to be a Baptist preacher to a large, Southern, urban congregation. Instead, by the time he died in 1968, he had led millions of people into shattering forever the Southern system of segregation of the races.”

1927 – 2006

Civil Rights Leader/Activists


Mr. James Farmer:

"Evil societies always kill their

consciences.“ "We, who are

the living, possess the past.

Tomorrow is for our martyrs."

Lay Bare The Heart: An Autobiography of the Civil Rights

Movement 1920 – 1999

Organizer of Freedom Ride


Mrs. Marian Anderson:

“No matter how big a nation is, it is no

stronger than its weakest people, and as

long as you keep a person down, some

part of you has to be down there to hold

him down, so it means you cannot soar

as you might otherwise.”

1905 - 1997

Singer/Activist


Rev. Jesse Jackson:

"I am – Somebody…I must be, I’m God’s child. I must be respected and protected. I am black and I am beautiful! I am - Somebody! Soul Power!"

Address to Operation Breadbasket rally, 1966. 1941 – Present

Civil Rights Activist

CIVIL RIGHTS QUOTES

President Lyndon B. Johnson:

"The vote is the most powerful

instrument ever devised by man for

breaking down injustice and destroying

the terrible walls which imprison men

because they are different from other

men."

Speech, Washington D.C. 6th August 1965 1908 - 1973


Rosa Parks:

“I find that if I’m thinking too much of

my own problems and the fact that at

times things are not just like I want

them to be, I don’t make any progress

at all. But, if I look around and see

what I can do, and go on with that,

then I move on.” 1913 – 2005


CIVIL RIGHTS QUOTES

President John Fitzgerald Kennedy:

We are confronted primarily with a moral issue… whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated.“ Referring to race riots in Alabama in a radio broadcast 11th June

1963. 1917 - 1963


Malcolm X:

“The only way we’ll get freedom for

ourselves with every oppressed people in

the world. We are blood brothers to the

people of Brazil, Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba –

yes Cuba too."

1925 – 1965



Judge Thurgood Marshall:

"The United States has been called

the melting pot of the world. But it

seems to me that the coloured man

either missed getting into the pot or

he got melted down." 1908 – 1993

Associate Justice U.S.

Supreme Court


Joan Baez:

“You don't get to choose how

you're going to die. Or when. You

can only decide how you're going

to live. Now.

1941 – Present

Songwriter/Activist

CIVIL RIGHTS QUOTES

President Harry S. Truman:

“Every segment of our population,

and every individual, has a right to

expect from his government a fair

deal."

Speech to Congress 6th September 1945.

1884 - 1972


Myrlie Evers-Williams:

“It may sound funny, but I love the South. I don't choose to live anywhere else. There's land here, where a man can raise cattle, and I'm going to do that someday. There are lakes where a man can sink a hook and fight bass. There is room here for my children to play, and grow, and become good citizens...”

For Us, The Living 1935 – Present



Medgar Evers:

“Hate is a wasteful emotion, most of the

people you hate don’t know you hate

them and the rest don’t care.”

1925 – 1963



Congressman John R. Lewis:

We march today for jobs and freedom, but we have nothing to be proud of, for hundreds and thousands of our brothers are not here. They have no money for their transportation, for they are receiving starvation wages, or no wages at all. In good conscience, we cannot support wholeheartedly the administration's civil rights bill, for it is too little and too late. There's not one thing in the bill that will protect our people from police brutality.

John Lewis, SNCC Chairman, Speech March on Washington

1940 – Present



Mrs. Mahalia Jackson

To Harry Belafonte, Mahalia Jackson was "the

single most powerful black woman in the

United States. Explaining that she was "the

woman- power for the grass roots," he said

that there was not "a single field hand, a single

black worker, a single black intellectual who

did not respond to her" civil rights message. 1911 - 1972

Singer/Activist


Congressman John R. Lewis:

“For the first time in one hundred years this nation is being awakened to the fact that segregation is evil and that it must be destroyed in all forms. Your presence today proves that you have been aroused to the point of action. We are now involved in a serious revolution.” John Lewis, SNCC Chairman, Speech March on Washington

1940 – Present



Mrs. Daisy Lee Gaston Bates:

The man who never makes a mistake

always takes orders from one who does.

No man or woman who tries to pursue an

ideal in his or her own way is without

enemies. President of Arkansas Conference NAACP - 1952

1914 – 1999



Mr. Langston Hughes:

“I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They

send me to eat in the kitchen When company

comes, But I laugh, and eat well, and grow strong.

Tomorrow, I'll be at the table when company

comes. Nobody'll dare say to me, "Eat in the

kitchen,“ Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I

am And be ashamed--I, too, am America.”

1902 – 1967

Poet, Activist


Mr. Roy Wilkins “President Eisenhower was a fine general and a

good, decent man, but if he had fought World

War II the way he fought for civil rights, we

would all be speaking German now.”

Roy Wilkins, Talking It Over With Roy Wilkins: Speeches And Writings

1901 – 1981

Executive Director

of NAACP


Mr. Cesar Chavez

”I am convinced that the truest act of

courage, the strongest act of manliness is

to sacrifice ourselves for others in a

totally non-violent struggle for justice.” Co-Founder – National Farm Workers Association

1927 – 1993



Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer

"I guess if I'd had any sense, I'd have been a little

scared - but what was the point of being scared?

The only thing they could do was kill me, and it

kinda seemed like they'd been trying to do that

a little bit at a time since I could remember.“ Vice-Chair, Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party

1917 - 1977



Mr. Harry Belafonte

“All my life I have firmly believed that as an

artist and a human being, I cannot isolate

myself from the struggles of my people;

that their victories are my victories and

their defeats are my defeats.”

1927 - Present

Singer/Activist

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