Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.

I believe there is only one race - the human race.

I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.

I will no longer act on the outside in a way that contradicts the truth that I hold deeply inside. I will no longer act as if I were less than the whole person I know myself inwardly to be.

I'd see the bus pass every day… But to me, that was a way of life; we had no choice but to accept what was the custom. The bus was among the first ways I realized there was a black world and a white world.

Every day before supper and before we went to services on Sundays. My grandmother would read the Bible to me, and my grandfather would pray. We even had devotions before going to pick cotton in the fields. Prayer and the Bible, became a part of my everyday thoughts and beliefs. I learned to put my trust in God and to seek Him as my strength.

I knew someone had to take the first step. So I made up my mind not to move.