The legal difference between the sit-ins and the Freedom Riders was significant.

The fact is that racism, despite all the doomsayers, has diminished

The women's rights movement of the 1970s had not yet emerged; except for Bella Abzug, I had no women supporters.

I was born and raised in the oldest settled part of the nation and in an environment in which racism was officially mooted.

Columbia Law School men were being drafted, and suddenly women who had done well in college were considered acceptable candidates for the vacant seats.

When I was 15, I decided I wanted to be a lawyer. No one thought this was a good idea

Lack of encouragement never deterred me. I was the kind of person who would not be put down.