If I Stayed Angry At

I Had Been Pushed As Far As I Could Stand To Be Pushed. I Had Decided That I Would Have To Know Once And For All What Rights I Had As A Human Being And A Citizen.

I Will Always Work For Human Rights For All People.

We Didn't Have Any Civil Rights. It Was Just A Matter Of Survival, Of Existing From One Day To The Next. I Remember Going To Sleep As A Girl Hearing The Klan Ride At Night And Hearing A Lynching And Being Afraid The House Would Burn Down.

There Were Times When It Would Have Been Easy To Fall Apart Or To Go In The Opposite Direction, But Somehow I Felt That If I Took On More Step, Someone Would Come Along To Join Me.

When That White Driver Stepped Back Toward Us, When He Waved His Hand And Ordered Us Up And Out Of Our Seats, I Felt A Determination Cover My Body Like A Quilt On A Winter Night.