Quotes about Civil rights
To accept injustice or segregation passively is to say to the oppressor that his actions are morally right.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
We had no alternative except that of preparing for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and national community.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
Through nonviolent resistance the Negro will be able to rise to the noble height of opposing the unjust system while loving the perpetrators of the system.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
Bias against the Negro is the worst disease from which the society of our nation suffers.
— Albert Einstein
When I marched with Martin Luther King in Selma, I felt my legs were praying.
— Abraham Joshua Heschel
Neither Pagan nor Mahamedan nor Jew ought to be excluded from the civil rights of the Commonwealth because of his religion. -quoting John Locke's argument.
— Thomas Jefferson
The March on Washington was a defining moment in the history of this country and a great example of our nation truly living up to its creed.
— Martin Luther King III
I know lots of people in Mississippi who have lost their jobs trying to register to vote.
— Fannie Lou Hamer
To give the victory to the right, not bloody bullets, but peaceful ballots only, are necessary.
— Abraham Lincoln
They - you know, when we walked in - when I walked in with the two white men that had carried me down - and they cursed me all the way down. They would ask me questions, and when I would try to answer, they would tell me to hush.
— Fannie Lou Hamer
I have suffered as much as Martin Luther King. Only I didn't get the bullet. And I would have taken the bullet if I could have.
— Ralph Abernathy