Civil Rights Movement Quotes - Page 3

• The only tired I was, was tired of giving in.

  Rosa Parks

  Courage, Struggle, Tired

  Rosa Parks, James Haskins (1948). “My Story”, Scholastic

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• Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Love, Peace, Kings

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.115, Beacon Press

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• A lot of people criticized me for speaking out, not long ago, about gay marriage. I could not remain silent any longer. It's the civil rights of our day. It's the issue of our day.

  Joe Biden

  Leadership, Gay, Rights

  "Biden dots speech with '16 themes" by Alexander Burns, www.politico.com. September 15, 2013.

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• In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as 'right-to-work.' It provides no 'rights' and no 'works.' Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining…. We demand this fraud be stopped.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Fighting, Rights, Labor Laws

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• Had it not been for the ministry of my good friend Dr. Billy Graham, my work in the civil rights movement would not have been as successful as it has been.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Successful, Good Friend, Rights

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• I don't think there are any pure Africans of the African Americans, but the African part of our history was pretty much taken away from us during slavery, so the 60s gave us a chance, because of the civil rights movement, to kind of re-examine and make some sort of formal connection to our African-ness.

  Herbie Hancock

  Taken, Thinking, Rights

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• The greatest movement for social justice our country has ever known is the civil rights movement and it was totally rooted in a love ethic.

  Bell Hooks

  Country, Rights, Justice

  "A chat with the Author of 'All About Love: New Visions'". CNN Chat Room, www.cnn.com. February 17, 2000.

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• In less than a century we experienced great movement. The youth movement! The labor movement! The civil rights movement! The peace movement! The solidarity movement! The women's movement! The disability movement! The disarmament movement! The gay rights movement! The environmental movement! Movement! Transformation! Is there any reason to believe we are done?

  Holly Near

  Women, Believe, Gay

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• People are very comfortable when race relations get looked at retrospectively. Slavery, the civil rights movement, etc.

  Paul Beatty

  Rights, Race, People

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

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• The civil rights movement is understanding your freedom under the Constitution of these United States and if anyone tries to take those freedoms from you, you better rise up and fight and that's what we're doing together.

  Ken Hutcherson

  Fighting, Rights, Understanding

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• For me, jazz will always be the soundtrack of the civil rights movement.

  Henry Rollins

  Rights, Movement, Jazz

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• Everything African-Americans - every freedom they have obtained - came from Republicans, not Democrats. All the way back to the Emancipation Proclamation, to the Civil Rights movement. Civil Rights legislation was passed by a Republican Congress.

  Rafael Cruz

  Rights, African American, Movement

  Source: www.buzzfeed.com

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• Now liberals compare their every riot, every traffic blockage, every Starbucks-window-smashing street protest to the civil rights movement -- which was only necessary because of them.

  Ann Coulter

  Rights, Movement, Window

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• I think hip-hop has definitely brought the black experience to white kids more than the civil rights movement did and more than any teacher's well-intentioned lecture on Martin Luther King did.

  Henry Rollins

  Teacher, Kings, Kids

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

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• When I speak to students about the Civil Rights Movement, I say that it is impossible to stop a determined movement that is captivating the American consciousness. I think the candidacy of Sen. Obama represents the beginning of a new movement in American political history that began in the hearts and minds of the people of this nation. And I want to be on the side of the people, on the side of the spirit of history.

  John Lewis

  Heart, Thinking, Rights

  "HRC's black supporters pressed to support Obama" by Richard T. Cullen and Charles Mahtesian, www.politico.com. February 27, 2008.

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• One of the most important parts of the civil rights movement that people don't talk about was these mass meetings. It's like "Movement Church." It's a combination of the music of the movement and the church. Those mass meetings are where people got the energy to go on to the next day.

  Stanley Nelson Jr.

  Rights, Next Day, People

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

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• Food is an important lens onto the civil rights movement. One of the central issues of the movement was the right to eat in places that served the public. This battle led to the lunch counter sit-ins, which became embattled, contested places.

  Marcie Cohen Ferris

  Important, Battle, Civil Rights

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

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• I had a fantasy as a child that I might be a writer someday. I always thought that meant you went to New York or Paris. But after that intense summer, I never thought that I wanted to live any place but Chicago. It also made me see what the stakes were in the civil rights movement. And it made me see what real hatred was like and the forms that it took. But it also made me understand how powerless ordinary people feel in their lives.

  Sara Paretsky

  Summer, New York, Children

  Source: www.progressive.org

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• Jim Jones started out as a civil rights crusader in Indianapolis. As a young preacher in the mid-50s, he used members of his congregation to integrate lunch counters and all-white churches in rich neighborhoods; they'd just march in and sit down at the pews and see what happened. Often they were received with racist insults, and once with a bomb threat. But the fact that you had this charismatic, white man, aggressively promoting racial equality, was a huge draw for African Americans, many of whom felt the Civil Rights Movement had stalled by the late 60s.

  Julia Scheeres

  Men, African American, Church

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

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• I`ve never been a passive political supporter. My grandmother, Betty Kleitz , god bless her soul, was from Tuskegee, Alabama, took parts in the civil rights movement and after that became of course like a lot of blacks in the South a staunch Democrat.

  Killer Mike

  Grandmother, Rights, Political

  Source: www.msnbc.com

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• I was involved in the civil rights movement way back in the late '50s and through the '60s and '70s. I was doing a civil rights musical here in Los Angeles and we sang at one of the rallies where Dr. Martin Luther King spoke, and I remember the thrill I felt when we were introduced to him. To have him shake your hand was an absolutely unforgettable experience. Even before I could vote, I was involved in the political arena.

  George Takei

  Political, Musical, Civil Rights

  Source: www.motherjones.com

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• It was so crucial to the Civil Rights Movement that on June 23, 1963, Martin Luther King came to town, walked down Woodward Avenue with more than 100,000 people and delivered the first major public iteration of his "I Have A Dream" speech, two months before he did it in Washington.

  David Maraniss

  Dream, Kings, June

  "Super Bowl Commercial Inspires Maraniss To Write About Detroit's Better Times". "Morning Edition" with David Greene, www.npr.org. January 14, 2016.

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• Nina Simone was a gifted and prolific singer, songwriter and pianist who became a powerful presence in the civil rights movement and paid a professional price for it. Behind the scenes, she struggled in a fractious, sometimes violent relationship with her husband and manager and with mental health issues that strained other relationships, including with her only daughter.

  Michel Martin

  Daughter, Powerful, Husband

  "Nina Simone's Daughter Says This Film Gets Her Mom's Story Straight". "All Things Considered" with Michel Martin, www.npr.org. February 14, 2016.

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• Detroit was an exaggeration of what was going on across the country. You could see the divisions, even within the Civil Rights Movement of that period. At the same time that Martin Luther King was talking about his dream, Malcolm X gave his most famous address in Detroit during that same period, "The Message To The Grass Roots," dismissing the notion of integration.

  David Maraniss

  Dream, Country, Kings

  "Super Bowl Commercial Inspires Maraniss To Write About Detroit's Better Times". "Morning Edition" with David Greene, www.npr.org. January 14, 2016.

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• The next step has to be the necessary step. It's always to put the immigrant community and the civil rights movement ahead of partisan politics.

  Luis Gutierrez

  Rights, Community, Next Steps

  "Immigration Battle". "FRONTLINE", www.pbs.org. October 20, 2015.

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