Explore 53 quotes by Civil rights activists

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King, Martin Luther, Jr. "I Have a Dream." March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. 28 Aug. 1963, Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC, USA.

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Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

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Read the Letter From a Birmingham Jail at upenn.edu

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King, Martin Luther, Jr. "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." 16 Apr. 1963.

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King, Martin Luther, Jr. "Letter from a Birmingham City Jail (1963)." A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches, edited by James M. Washington. HarperOne, 2003.

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I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low; the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

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King, Martin Luther, Jr. "I Have a Dream." March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. 28 Aug. 1963, Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC, USA.

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I have also decided to stick with love...hate is too great a burden to bear.

Where Do We Go From Here?

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King, Martin Luther, Jr. "Where Do We Go From Here?" 11th Annual SCLC Convention. 16 Aug. 1967, Atlanta, GA, USA.

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A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.

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King Martin Luther, Jr. Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? Harper & Row, 1967, ch. 4.

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When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir... America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned.

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King, Martin Luther, Jr. "I Have a Dream." March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. 28 Aug. 1963, Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC, USA.

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When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

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King, Martin Luther, Jr. "I Have a Dream." March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. 28 Aug. 1963, Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC, USA.

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We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

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King, Martin Luther, Jr. "Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution." 31 Mar. 1968, National Cathedral, Washington, DC, USA. Sermon.

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One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty.

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Read the Letter From a Birmingham Jail at upenn.edu

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Original Citation

King, Martin Luther, Jr. "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." 16 Apr. 1963.

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King, Martin Luther, Jr. "Letter from a Birmingham City Jail (1963)." A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches, edited by James M. Washington. HarperOne, 2003.

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That's our motto. We want freedom by any means necessary. We want justice by any means necessary. We want equality by any means necessary.

Malcolm X

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Malcolm X. Speech at the founding rally of Organization of Afro-American Unity. Founding rally of Organization of Afro-American Unity. 28 June 1964, Audubon Ballroom, New York City, NY, USA.

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It is both historically and biologically true that there can be no birth and growth without birth and growing pains. Whenever there is the emergence of the new we confront the recalcitrance of the old. So the tensions which we witness in the world today are indicative of the fact that a new world order is being born and an old order is passing away.

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King, Martin Luther, Jr. "Facing the Challenge of a New Age." First Annual Institute on Nonviolence and Social Change meeting. 3 Dec. 1956, Montgomery, AL, USA.

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Government action is not the whole answer to the present crisis, but it is an important partial answer. Morals cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. The law cannot make an employer love me, but it can keep him from refusing to hire me because of the color of my skin.

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King, Martin Luther, Jr. Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story. Harper & Brothers, 1958, ch. 11.

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I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

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King, Martin Luther, Jr. "I Have a Dream." March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. 28 Aug. 1963, Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC, USA.

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I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.

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Original Citation

King, Martin Luther, Jr. "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." 16 Apr. 1963.

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King, Martin Luther, Jr. "Letter from a Birmingham City Jail (1963)." A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches, edited by James M. Washington. HarperOne, 2003.

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The nation is sick, trouble is in the land, confusion all around... But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.

I've Been to the Mountaintop

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King, Martin Luther, Jr. “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” 3 Apr. 1968, Mason Temple, Memphis, TN, USA.

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Even if it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, go on out and sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures; sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven composed music; sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry; (Go ahead) sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, "Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well."

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King, Martin Luther, Jr. "The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life." 9 April 1967, New Convenant Baptist Church, Chicago, IL, USA. Sermon.

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Like anybody, I would like to live a long life; longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land. And I'm happy tonight, I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

I See the Promised Land

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King, Martin Luther, Jr. “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” 3 Apr. 1968, Mason Temple, Memphis, TN, USA.

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"Wait" has almost always meant "Never."