Quote

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.

Rosa Parks

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Rosa Parks
Age: 92 †
Born: 1913
Born: February 4
Died: 2005
Died: October 24
Activist
Autobiographer
Civil Rights Advocate
Human Rights Activist
Public Figure
Tuskegee
Alabama
Rosa Lee Louise McCauley Parks
Rosa Louise McCauleyParks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks
Night
Survival
Didn
Hearing
Remember
Afraid
Klan
Matter
Sleep
Lynching
Going
Rights
Existing
Would
Girl
Burn
House
Ride
Next
Civil

More quotes by Rosa Parks

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I will always work for human rights for all people.
Rosa Parks
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I had felt for a long time, that if I was ever told to get up so a white person could sit, that I would refuse to do so.
Rosa Parks
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Nothing in the Golden Rule says that others will treat us as we have treated them. It only says that we must treat others in a way that we would want to be treated.
Rosa Parks
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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.
Rosa Parks
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Our mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it.
Rosa Parks
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An opportunity was being given to me to do what I had asked of others.
Rosa Parks
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There is work to do that is why I cannot stop or sit still. As long as a child needs help, as long as people are not free, there will be work to do. As long as an elderly person is attacked or in need of support, there is work to do. As long as we have bigotry and crime, we have work to do.
Rosa Parks
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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.
Rosa Parks
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What really matters is not whether we have problems, but how we go through them. We must keep going on to make it through whatever we are facing.
Rosa Parks
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Arrest me for sitting on a bus? You may do that.
Rosa Parks
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I do the very best I can to look upon life with optimism and hope and looking forward to a better day.
Rosa Parks
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I did not get on the bus to get arrested. I got on the bus to go home.
Rosa Parks
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I believe there is only one race - the human race.
Rosa Parks
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To bring about change, you must not be afraid to take the first step. We will fail when we fail to try.
Rosa Parks
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There is a lack of interest in voting in the United States, and that troubles me. It is very necessary that people get registered, study the issues and be aware of the politics of our country. We will really be set back if people don't take the time to learn about the candidates who are concerned about the well-being of all the citizens and vote.
Rosa Parks
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Racial pride and self-dignity were emphasized in my family and community.
Rosa Parks
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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.
Rosa Parks
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Why do you all push us around?
Rosa Parks
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Many whites, even white Southerners told me that even though it may have seemed like the blacks were being freed (by my actions) they felt more free and at ease themselves. They thought that my action didn't just free blacks but them, too.
Rosa Parks
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Black women are very capable of leading our organizations. I believe that firmly.
Rosa Parks