Civil Rights Quotes

Throughout history, Juneteenth has been known by many names: Jubilee Day, Freedom Day, Liberation Day, Emancipation Day and, today, a national holiday.

You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.

I don’t think we could have had the changes in civil rights without TV.

I am not looking for approval. I have to stand up for people that are oppressed. … If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for what is right.

I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave […]

You’re not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.

I am one of those persons who doesn’t believe that a political party ought to be just a rallying ground for anybody that wants to get under the tent…. The best way in the world to strengthen the progressive elements in American politics, the liberal elements, is to permit people who have been denied certain […]

Distinctions between citizens solely because of their ancestry are by their very nature odious to a free people whose institutions are founded upon the doctrine of equality.

If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.