Negroes Quotes

• I hear so many complaints to the effect that Negroes do not take advantage of the educational opportunities offered them. Well, one of the reasons why more of my race do not go in for higher education is that as soon as one of us gets his head above the crowd there are millions of feet ready to crush it back again to that dead level of commonplace thus creating a racial deadline of culture in our Republic. For how am I to compete with other American artists if I am not to be given the same opportunity?

  

  Augusta Savage
  • Culture
  • Education
  • Crush

• As a race, the Negroes are not lazy.

  

  W. E. B. Du Bois
  • Race
  • Lazy
  • Negroes

• I have seen periods of progress followed by reaction. I have seen the hopes and aspirations of Negroes rise during World War II, only to be smashed during the Eisenhower years. I am seeing the victories of the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations destroyed by Richard Nixon.

  

  Bayard Rustin
  • Progress
  • Reaction
  • Hopes

• You say you will not fight to free negroes. Some of them seem willing to fight for you; but, no matter. Fight you, then exclusively to save the Union.

  

  Abraham Lincoln
  • Fight
  • Union
  • Negroes

• Hitherto, it must be admitted that American Negroes have been a race more in name than in fact, or to be exact, more in sentiment than in experience. The chief bond between them has been that of a common condition rather than a common consciousness; a problem in common rather than a life in common.

  

  Alain LeRoy Locke
  • Experience
  • Common
  • Negroes

• The slave-breeders and slave-traders, are a small, odious and detested class, among you; and yet in politics, they dictate the course of all of you, and are as completely your masters, as you are the master of your own negroes.

  

  Abraham Lincoln
  • Politics
  • Slave
  • Dictate

• The ancient Egyptians were Negroes. The moral fruit of their civilization is to be counted among the assets of the Black world.

  

  Cheikh Anta Diop
  • Civilization
  • Ancient
  • Egyptians

• I am not in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office.

  

  Abraham Lincoln
  • Office
  • Voters
  • Jurors

• The children of the white families in town were not permitted to associate with me, because my father was committing the then unpardonable crime, in Southern eyes, of educating negroes.

  

  Lee De Forest
  • Children
  • Father
  • Eyes

• There is no truth to the myth that Negroes depreciate property. The fact is that most Negroes are kept out of residential neighborhoods so long that when one of us is finally sold a home, it's already depreciated.

  

  Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Property
  • Neighborhoods
  • Negroes

• As a nation, we began by declaring that 'all men are created equal.' We now practically read it 'all men are created equal, except negroes.' When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read 'all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.' When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty – to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.

  

  Abraham Lincoln
  • Men
  • Equal
  • Except

• Everything the black people are doing comes from the Honorable Elijah Mohammed. They are black now, they don't want to be called Negroes. This come from the Honorable Elijah Mohammed.

  

  Muhammad Ali
  • Black People
  • Negroes
  • Mohammed

• There are more Negroes in jail with me than there are on the voting rolls.

  

  Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Jail
  • Negroes
  • Voting Rolls

• When Negroes are average, they fail, unless they are very, very lucky. Now, if you're average and white, honey, you can go far. Just look at Dan Quayle. If that boy was colored he'd be washing dishes somewhere.

  

  Annie Elizabeth Delany
  • White
  • Colored
  • Dan Quayle

• Three simple words can describe the nature of the social revolution that is talking place and what Negroes really want. They are the words "all," "now," and "here."

  

  Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Describe
  • Negroes
  • Social Revolution

• It is precisely because education is the road to equality and citizenship, that it has been made more elusive for Negroes than many other rights. The walling off of Negroes from equal education is part of the historical design to submerge him in second class status. Therefore, as Negroes have struggled to be free they have had to fight for the opportunity for a decent education.

  

  Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Opportunity
  • Education
  • Design

• A few years ago no hotel or restaurant in Boston refused Negro guests; now several hotels, restaurants, and especially confectionary stores, will not serve Negroes, even the best of them.

  

  Ray Stannard Baker
  • Restaurants
  • Refused
  • Hotels

• I believe that whoever tries to think things through honestly will soon recognize how unworthy and even fatal is the traditional bias against Negroes. What can the man of good will do to combat this deeply rooted prejudice? He must have the courage to set an example by words and deed, and must watch lest his children become influenced by racial bias.

  

  Albert Einstein
  • Believe
  • Man
  • Courage

• Women and negroes, being seven-twelfths of the people, are a majority; and according to our republican theory, are the rightful rulers of the nation.

  

  Elizabeth Cady Stanton
  • Women
  • Negroes
  • Republican Theory