Segregation Quotes

• Segregation...not only harms one physically but injures one spiritually...It scars the soul...It is a system which forever stares the segregated in the face, saying 'You are less than...''You are not equal to...'

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Forever, Soul, Faces

  14 Copy quote

• Segregation was wrong when it was forced by white people, and I believe it is still wrong when it is requested by black people.

  Coretta Scott King

  Believe, Memorable, White

  "The Last Word : A Treasury of Women's Quotes" by Carolyn Warner, (p. 99), 1992.

  131 Copy quote

  Show source

• I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color.

  Malcolm X

  Respect, Believe, Color

  Malcolm X (1992). “By any means necessary”, Pathfinder Pr

  128 Copy quote

  Show source

• Racial segregation must be seen for what it is, and that is an evil system, a new form of slavery covered up with certain niceties of complexity.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Covered Up, Evil, Slavery

  Sermon at Temple Israel of Hollywood, delivered 26 February 1965

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• Segregation is the adultery of an illicit intercourse between injustice and immorality.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Injustice, Adultery, Immorality

  Martin Luther King (Jr.), Alex Ayres (1993). “The Wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr”, Plume

  29 Copy quote

  Show source

• Segregation has no place in the education system.

  Richard Dawkins

  Education System

  "Richard Dawkins: Beyond belief". Interview with John Crace, www.theguardian.com. January 9, 2006.

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• In so many ways, segregation shaped me, and education liberated me.

  Maya Angelou

  Way, Liberated

  24 Copy quote

• The legal battle against segregation is won, but the community battle goes on.

  Dorothy Day

  Community, Battle, Goes On

  15 Copy quote

• When you grow up in a totally segregated society, where everybody around you believes that segregation is proper, you have a hard time. You can't believe how much it's a part of your thinking.

  Shelby Foote

  Growing Up, Believe, Hard Times

  83 Copy quote

• Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Dark, Justice, Path

  I Have a Dream, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

  65 Copy quote

  Show source

• America preaches integration and practices segregation.

  Malcolm X

  Practice, America, Integration

  Malcolm X (1992). “Malcolm X Speaks Out”, Andrews McMeel Pub

  32 Copy quote

  Show source

• In many ways, history is marked as 'before' and 'after' Rosa Parks. She sat down in order that we all might stand up, and the walls of segregation came down.

  Jesse Jackson

  Wall, Order, Way

  17 Copy quote

• My parents told me in the very beginning as a young child when I raised the question about segregation and racial discrimination, they told me not to get in the way, not to get in trouble, not to make any noise.

  John Lewis

  Children, Parent, Noise

  "Rep. John Lewis Looks Back On The Struggle For Voting Rights". "Fresh Air" with David Bianculli, www.npr.org. November 18, 2016.

  21 Copy quote

  Show source

• When growing up, I saw segregation. I saw racial discrimination. I saw those signs that said white men, colored men. White women, colored women. White waiting. And I didn't like it.

  John Lewis

  Growing Up, Men, White Man

  "Rep. John Lewis Looks Back On The Struggle For Voting Rights". "Fresh Air" with David Bianculli, www.npr.org. November 18, 2016.

  45 Copy quote

  Show source

• Jim Crow is alive and it's dressed in a Brooks Brothers suit, my friend, instead of a white robe.

  Myrlie Evers-Williams

  Brother, White, Crow

  89 Copy quote

• We come then to the question presented: Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal education opportunities? We believe that it does.

  Earl Warren

  Children, Believe, School

  Earl Warren (1959). “The Public Papers of Chief Justice Earl Warren”

  21 Copy quote

  Show source

• My uncertainty disappeared. Segregation is evil, and I cannot, as a minister, condone evil.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Evil, Ministers, Uncertainty

  4 Copy quote

• In America, you can segregate the people, but the problems will travel. From slavery to equal rights, from state suppression of dissent to crime, drugs and unemployment, I can't think of a supposedly Black issue that hasn't wasted the original Black target group and then spread like measles to outlying white experience.

  June Jordan

  Thinking, America, Issues

  June Jordan (1986). “On call: political essays”

  17 Copy quote

  Show source

• To accept injustice or segregation passively is to say to the oppressor that his actions are morally right.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Action, Injustice

  Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1968). “I Have a Dream: The Quotations of Martin Luther King, Jr”

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• All reduction of people to objects, all imposition of labels and patterns to which they must conform, all segregation can lead only to destruction.

  Maureen Duffy

  People, Labels, Patterns

  9 Copy quote

• Segregation is that which is forced upon an inferior by a superior. Separation is done voluntarily by two equals.

  Malcolm X

  Two, Done, Separation

  5 Copy quote

• Many have fought for and even lost their lives to end segregation, to win the right to vote. It disappoints me to now have to cajole people to register and to vote.

  Jesse Jackson

  Winning, People, Vote

  Interview with Rosanna Greenstreet, www.theguardian.com. April 13, 2012.

  18 Copy quote

  Show source

• I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.

  George C. Wallace

  Dust, Tyrants, Feet

  First Inaugural Speech as Governor of Alabama, January 1963.

  58 Copy quote

  Show source

• We know that segregation is evil. We know that the sickest children should not go to the worst hospitals.

  Jonathan Kozol

  Children, Evil, Should

  4 Copy quote

• Today we know with certainty that segregation is dead. The only question remaining is how costly will be the funeral.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Funeral, Black History, Today

  Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

  9 Copy quote

  Show source