Quotes by Claudette Colvin - Page 1

I never swore when I was young.
Claudette Colvin /
Swore
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I just couldn't move. History had me glued to the seat.
Claudette Colvin /
History
Glue
Moving
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New York is a completely different culture to Montgomery, Alabama.
Claudette Colvin /
Alabama
Montgomery
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That was worse than stealing, you know, talking back to a white person.
Claudette Colvin /
Stealing
Talking
White
Worse
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There were many African Americans - many, many stories similar to my story.
Claudette Colvin /
Stories
African
African Americans
Similar
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When I told my mother I was pregnant, I thought she was going to have a heart attack.
Claudette Colvin /
Pregnant
Attack
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I knew then and I know now, when it comes to justice, there is no easy way to get it.
Claudette Colvin /
Easy
Justice
Way
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Rosa Parks wasn't the first one to rebel against the segregated seats. I was the first one.
Claudette Colvin /
Parks
Rebel
Rosa
Seats
Against
First
First One
Segregated
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I was about four years old the first time I ever saw what happened when you acted up to whites.
Claudette Colvin /
First Time
Years
Time First Time First
Acted
Time First Time Old
First
Old
Ever
Saw
Whites
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When you've been abused daily and you see people humiliated and harassed, you just get tired of it.
Claudette Colvin /
Abuse
Humiliated
Tired
Been
Daily
Harassed
See
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I became aware of how the world is and how the white establishment plays black people against each other.
Claudette Colvin /
Establishment
White
World People Black
Aware
Became
World Black People
Plays
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I'd like my grandchildren to be able to see that their grandmother stood up for something, a long time ago.
Claudette Colvin /
Grandchildren
Long Time
Long Time Ago
Time Long Long Time
Stood
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Young people think Rosa Parks just sat down on a bus and ended segregation, but that wasn't the case at all.
Claudette Colvin /
Bus
Parks
Rosa
Sat
Segregation
Young
Case
Down
Ended
Young People
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When our founding fathers drafted the Constitution and Bill of Rights, black people weren't even considered human.
Claudette Colvin /
Bill Of Rights
Black
Founding
Rights
Considered
Bill
Drafted
Human
Even
Fathers
Founding Fathers
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I lost most of my friends. Their parents had told them to stay away from me, because they said I was crazy, I was an extremist.
Claudette Colvin /
Extremist
Lost
Me Crazy Parents
Stay
Parents
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We learned about people like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington and Marian Anderson. Harriet Tubman was my favorite.
Claudette Colvin /
Anderson
Harriet
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There was segregation everywhere. The churches, buses and schools were all segregated and you couldn't even go into the same restaurants.
Claudette Colvin /
Restaurants
Everywhere
Buses
Churches
Schools
Segregated
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I left the South in 1963 and was living in Morristown, New Jersey, when the March on Washington took place, so I watched it on television instead.
Claudette Colvin /
Jersey
March
New Jersey
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I always tell young people to hold on to their dreams. And sometimes you have to stand up for what you think is right even if you have to stand alone.
Claudette Colvin /
Alone
Dreams
People
Young
Stand
Always
Even
Hold
Right
Stand Up
Tell
Young People
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The light-skinned girls always thought they were better looking. So did the teachers, too. That meant most of the dark complexion ones didn't like themselves.
Claudette Colvin /
Complexion
Dark
Teachers
Better Looking
Meant
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I wanted the young African-American girls also on the bus to know that they had a right to be there, because they had paid their fare just like the white passengers.
Claudette Colvin /
Girl
African American
Bus
Paid
Passengers
Wanted
White
Young
Fare
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When I got to 10th grade at Booker T. Washington High, I had a teacher, Miss Geraldine Nesbitt. I think she came from New York. She helped me begin to question things.
Claudette Colvin /
New York
Teacher
Begin
Miss
Teacher Me New
Washington
Grade
Helped
Question
York
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I've always told my children that once they go out into the world, they must have two heads and two minds: one to keep grounded, the other to deal with corporate America.
Claudette Colvin /
America
Corporate
Corporate America
Grounded
Two
Deal
Heads
Minds
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Being dragged off that bus was worth it just to see Barack Obama become president, because so many others gave their lives and didn't get to see it, and I thank God for letting me see it.
Claudette Colvin /
God
Barack
Bus
President
Thank God
Worth It
God Me Thank God
Because
Obama
Being
Get
God Me See
Barack Obama
God Thank God Me
Dragged
Gave
Off
Letting
See
Thank
Worth
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What do we have to do to make God love us?' I always grew up with that. I always used to go around thinking that. 'God loved the white people better. He must've. That's why he made them white.'
Claudette Colvin /
God Love
Love God Thinking
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A lot of African American women wanted to emulate white women. But I said in my mind, rationally thinking, there is no way you are going to get your hair that straight, especially in the summer.
Claudette Colvin /
Emulate
Said
Summer
Thinking
Wanted
White
African
American Women
Rationally
White Women
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I wanted to be an attorney. My mother would say I never stopped talking. I always had a lot of questions to ask, and I was never satisfied with the answer. A lot of things I wasn't satisfied by.
Claudette Colvin /
Attorney
Satisfied
Talking
Ask
Questions
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A lot has changed since I grew up, but there's still a long way to go. I don't think we can move forward with Donald Trump as the president. There's a disconnect there. We don't want to regress, we want progress.
Claudette Colvin /
Changed
Long Way
Trump
Disconnect
Donald
Donald Trump
Forward
Move Forward
Regress
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The Montgomery Bus Boycott began in December 1955, and by 1956 NAACP leaders came to me and asked me to be part of a lawsuit they wanted to file on my behalf and that of three other women, to challenge segregation on public buses.
Claudette Colvin /
Behalf
Boycott
Bus
December
Lawsuit
Montgomery
Naacp
Segregation
Three
Asked
Began
Came
Challenge
Public
File
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For African-Americans, it's still going to be - some people say double hard - I'd say four times as hard. Be an opportunist. Take advantage of your resources, because the only way to win is with education, self-esteem, having value in yourself.
Claudette Colvin /
Education
Advantage
Resources
Self Esteem
Double
Times
Having
People Say
Some People
Take Advantage
Value
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As long as white people put people of color, African Americans and Latinos, in the same dispensable bag, and look at our children of color as insignificant and treat women of color as not as deserving of protection as white women, we will never achieve true equality.
Claudette Colvin /
Equality
Achieve
Color
Deserving
Insignificant
Protection
White
African
African Americans
Bag
Latinos
Treat
White Women
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I remember during Easter one year, I was to get a pair of black patent shoes but you could only get them from the white stores, so my mother drew the outline of my feet on a brown paper bag in order to get the closest size, because we weren't allowed to go in the store to try them on.
Claudette Colvin /
Easter
Brown
Closest
Bag
Drew
Outline
Pair
Paper Bag
Patent
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Back then, as a teenager, I kept thinking, why don't the adults around here just say something? Say it so they know we don't accept segregation? I knew then and I know now that, when it comes to justice, there's no easy way to get it. You can't sugarcoat it. You have to take a stand and say, 'This is not right.'
Claudette Colvin /
Easy
Easy Way
Segregation
Teenager
Thinking
Way
Adult
Just
Now
Then
Accept
Stand
Why
Get
Around
Back
You
Take
Here
Say
Right
Something
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Whenever people ask me: 'Why didn't you get up when the bus driver asked you?' I say it felt as though Harriet Tubman's hands were pushing me down on one shoulder and Sojourner Truth's hands were pushing me down on the other shoulder. I felt inspired by these women because my teacher taught us about them in so much detail.
Claudette Colvin /
Teacher
Truth
Bus
Bus Driver
Felt
Hands
Inspired
People
Pushing
Taught
Ask
Because
Why
Much
Me
Get
Them
Detail
Down
Driver
Say
Harriet
Other
Shoulder
Though
Whenever
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Back then, as a teenager, I kept thinking, Why don't the adult around here just say something? Say it so they know we don't accept segregation? I knew then and I know now that, when it comes to justice, there is no easy way to get it. You can't sugarcoat it. You have to take a stand and say, 'This is not right.' And I did.
Claudette Colvin /
Justice
Teenager
Thinking
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Claudette Colvin Quotes - Page 1

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