Civil Rights Quotes - Page 2

• The Framers of the Bill of Rights did not purport to 'create' rights. Rather, they designed the Bill of Rights to prohibit our Government from infringing rights and liberties presumed to be preexisting.

  William J. Brennan

  Freedom, Rights, Government

  66 Copy quote

• This is one country. It has become one country because all of us and all the people who came here had an equal chance to develop their talents. We cannot say to ten percent of the population that you can't have that right; that your children cannot have the chance to develop whatever talents they have; that the only way that they are going to get their rights is to go in the street and demonstrate. I think we owe them and we owe ourselves a better country than that.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Children, Thinking

  Civil Rights Address, delivered 11 June 1963

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• Through electing officials that will protect the Constitution and commit themselves to the rights of the people and the health of the nation, we will be able to ensure that no group of ideologues and no private sector institution can coopt our rights, take us into senseless wars and steal the nation from its people.

  Harry Belafonte

  War, Rights, People

  16 Copy quote

• I don't say that the supposed Civil Rights development is a myth, but it's a matter of dealing with reality. It's purely peripheral and, in many cases, it's just a facade.

  Norman Granz

  Reality, Rights, Development

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• Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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  I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Dream, Kings, Children

  Speech at Civil Rights March,Washington, D.C., 28 Aug. 1963

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• I do not believe that defending traditional marriage between one man and one woman excludes anybody or usurps anybody's civil rights and denies anybody their civil rights.

  Alan Autry

  Believe, Men, Rights

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• John Brown first swam into my vision in the 1960s when I was a political activist in the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement at Chapel Hill, where I went to university.

  Russell Banks

  War, Rights, Political

  52 Copy quote

• 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.

  Lyndon B. Johnson

  Wall, Powerful, Men

  Johnson, Lyndon B. (1967). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1966”, p.842, Best Books on

  79 Copy quote

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• Im a child of the Civil Rights Movement.

  Danny Glover

  Children, Rights, Movement

  "On Movies, Money & Politics". Interview with Peter Biskind, www.thenation.com. March 18, 1999.

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• The civil rights movement would experience many important victories, but Rosa Parks will always be remembered as its catalyst.

  Jim Costa

  Rights, Victory, Important

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• Anyone who said he wasn't afraid during the civil rights movement was either a liar or without imagination. I was scared all the time. My hands didn't shake but inside I was shaking.

  James L. Farmer, Jr.

  Liars, Lying, Rights

  25 Copy quote

• When the civil rights battle was won, all the Jews and hippies and artists were middle class white people and all the blacks were still poor. Materially, not much changed.

  Jonathan Lethem

  Hippie, Artist, Rights

  7 Copy quote
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  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.

  Rosa Parks

  Inspirational, Positive, Inspiring

  Rosa Parks, Gregory J. Reed (1994). “Quiet Strength: The Faith, the Hope, and the Heart of a Woman who Changed a Nation”, Zondervan

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• He didn't even have the satisfaction of being killed for civil rights... it had to be some silly little Communist.

  Jackie Kennedy

  Silly, Rights, Littles

  "The Death of a President". Book by William Manchester, 1967.

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• I favor the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and it must be enforced at gunpoint if necessary.

  Ronald Reagan

  Funny, Humorous, Rights

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• My image had always been very heterosexual, very straight. So it was a nice experience for me, a chance to clarify my own feelings about gay and lesbian civil rights.

  Bruce Springsteen

  Nice, Gay, Rights

  9 Copy quote

• A lot of things happened in a lot of places. And to see how well it was handled in Atlanta. There are a lot of reasons for Atlanta being a special town in the Civil Rights era.

  Ivan Allen, Jr.

  Rights, Atlanta, Special

  68 Copy quote

• Rarely in my 45 years as a civil rights lawyer have I been so angry about an injustice as I am about what happened to Billy Ray Johnson

  Morris Dees

  Rights, Years, Rays

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• Confirming John Roberts would endanger much of the progress made by the nation in civil rights over the past half century.

  Ralph Neas

  Past, Rights, Progress

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• All Americans owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. King for his bravery and commitment to civil rights and nonviolence that changed this nation - and world - for the better.

  Eliot Engel

  Gratitude, Kings, Commitment

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• There are severe limitations on civil rights. In the international arena, Iran is turning into an isolated country, and the international community is becoming more hostile toward it.

  Moshe Katsav

  Country, Rights, Iran

  72 Copy quote

• The civil rights movement wasn't easy for anybody.

  Sammy Davis, Jr.

  Rights, Movement, Easy

  7 Copy quote

• At the same time all this was happening, there was a folk song revival movement goingon, so the commercial music industry was actually changed by the Civil Rights Movement.

  Bernice Johnson Reagon

  Song, Commercial Music, Rights

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• Rosa Parks will be remembered for her lasting contributions to society. Her legacy lives on in the continued struggle for civil rights around the world. She will be missed.

  Jim Costa

  Struggle, Rights, Legacy

  11 Copy quote