We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.

We must stand up and say, "I'm black and I'm beautiful," and this self-affirmation is the black man's need, made compelling by the white man's crimes against him.

As the weeks and months unfolded, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise.

Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

Music is the best consolation for a despaired man

Many of the ugly pages of American history have been obscured and forgotten....America owes a debt of justice which it has only begun to pay. If it loses the will to finish or slackens in its determination, history will recall its crimes and the country that would be great will lack the most indispensable element of greatness-justice.

I think in this phase, after the Negro emerges in and from the desegregated society, then a great deal of time must be spent in improving standards which lag behind to a large extent because of segregation,discrimination, and the legacy of slavery.