I'm the world's original gradualist. I just think ninety-odd years is gradual enough.

History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure.

A man can make what he wants of himself if he truly believes that he must be ready for hard work and many heartbreaks.

Truth is more than a mental exercise.

A child born to a Black mother in a state like Mississippi... has exactly the same rights as a white baby born to the wealthiest person in the United States. It's not true, but I challenge anyone to say it is not a goal worth working for.

The United States has been called the melting pot of the world. But it seems to me that the colored man either missed getting into the pot or he got melted down.

Sometimes history takes things into its own hands.