I Was So Inspired By Dr. King That In 1956, With Some Of My Brothers And Sisters And First Cousins, I Was Only 16 Years Old, We Went Down To The Public Library Trying To Check Out Some Books, And We Were Told By The Librarian That The Library Was For Whites Only And Not For Colors. It Was A Public Library. I Never Went Back To That Public Library Until July 5th, 1998, By This Time I'm In The Congress, For A Book Signing Of My Book, 'Walking With The Wind.' - SearchQuotes

About
Terms
Privacy
Sitemap

Get in Touch
Advertise
Removal Request
Subscribe
Contact Us

Social
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Pinterest

Close

Submit Quote

Latest Quotes
Browse our latest quotes

Topic List
Categorized list of quote topics

Famous Authors
Alphabetical list of influential authors

Picture Quotes
Custom and user added quotes with pictures

I was so inspired by Dr. King that in 1956, with some of my brothers and sisters and first cousins, I was only 16 years old, we went down to the public library trying to check out some books, and we were told by the librarian that the library was for whites only and not for colors. It was a public library. I never went back to that public library until July 5th, 1998, by this time I'm in the Congress, for a book signing of my book, 'Walking with the Wind.'

John Lewis

10 Likes

10 Comments

RELATED QUOTES

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. I would ask my mother and ask my parents over and over again, why? They said, that's the way it is. Don't get in the way, don't get in trouble. I was so inspired by Rosa Parks in 1955. I was 15 years old. I was inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr. I heard his words on all radio. It seemed like he was saying to me, John Lewis, you too can make a contribution.

59 Likes

Sponsored Links

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. But we had people that were educated. We had teachers, we had high school principals, we had people teaching in colleges and university in Tuskegee, Alabama. But they were told they failed the so-called literacy test.

23 Likes

In 1965, the attempted march from Selma to Montgomery on March 7th was planned to dramatize to the state of Alabama and to the nation that people of color wanted to register to vote. In Selma, you could only attempt to register to vote on the first and third Mondays of each month. You had to go down to the courthouse and get a copy of the so-called literacy test and attempt to pass the test. And people stood in line day in and day out failing to get a copy of the test or failing to pass the test.

6 Likes

Black men and women were not allowed to register to vote. My own mother, my own father, my grandfather and my uncles and aunts could not register to vote because each time they attempted to register to vote, they were told they could not pass the literacy test. And many people were so intimidated, so afraid that they will lose their jobs, they will be evicted from the farms, and they just - they almost gave up.

5 Likes

My mother and father and many of my relatives had been sharecroppers. They had been tenant farmers like so many people in the South. They knew the stories that had occurred. They knew places in Alabama where people were evicted from their farm, from the plantation. They read about, they heard about incidents in Tennessee where people were evicted from the farms and plantations back in 1956, in 1957 in West Tennessee between Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee.

21 Likes

Sponsored Links

When I was growing up in rural Alabama, it was impossible for me to register to vote. I didn't become a registered voter until I moved to Tennessee, to Nashville as a student.

7 Likes

We have come a long way in America because of Martin Luther King, Jr. He led a disciplined, nonviolent revolution under the rule of law, a revolution of values, a revolution of ideas. Weve come a long way, but we still have a distance to go before all of our citizens embrace the idea of a truly interracial democracy, what I like to call the Beloved Community, a nation at peace with itself.

15 Likes

I believe in nonviolence as a way of life, as a way of living.

5 Likes

We live in a country where we're supposed to have freedom of the press and religious freedom, but I think to some degree, there's a sense of fear in America today, that if you say the wrong thing, what some people will consider what is wrong, if you step out of line, if you dissent, whether you be an entertainer, that somehow and some way this government or the forces to be will come down on you.

6 Likes

If youre going to provide civil rights and equality for everybody, you cannot draw a line, you cannot build a wall. We must respect the dignity and the worth of every human being whether they are gay or straight.

5 Likes

Sponsored Links

My position is very, very simple. That I fought too long and too hard against discrimination based on race and color, not to stand up and fight against discrimination based on sexual orientation.

3 Likes

Who gets the bird, the hunter or the dog?

4 Likes

TRENDING

TRENDING TOPICS

Apr 24

ABOUT

Terms
Privacy Policy
Removal Request
Sitemap
Contact Us

OUR GOAL

Our goal is to help you by delivering amazing quotes to bring inspiration, personal growth, love and happiness to your everyday life.

© 2024 SearchQuotes™