Claudette Colvin Quotes: Words of Wisdom from a Civil Rights Pioneer

It’s important to believe in yourself, even when others don’t understand your journey.

Stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.

I knew then and I know now that, when it comes to justice, there is no easy way to get it.

I felt like Sojourner Truth was pushing down on one shoulder and Harriet Tubman was pushing down on the other?saying, ‘Sit down girl!’ I was glued to my seat.?

The only change comes when we stand.

You can’t be afraid to speak up and speak out for what you believe.

Being brave isn’t the absence of fear. Being brave is having that fear but finding a way through it.

You don’t have to wait for a leader. You can be the leader.

You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.

I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free… so other people would be also free.

People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically, no, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.

I knew then and I know now that, when it comes to justice, there is no easy way to get it.?

I felt like Sojourner Truth was pushing down on one shoulder and Harriet Tubman was pushing down on the other saying, ‘Sit down girl!’ I was glued to my seat.

What do we want our legacy to be? Do we want to be remembered as the generation that saved our world, or will we be the generation that lost it?

I could not move because history had me glued to the seat. It felt like Sojourner Truth?s hands were pushing down on one shoulder and Harriet Tubman?s hands were pushing down on the other shoulder.

It wasn’t that I was old, so tired of getting up at 5 in the morning, that I couldn?t get up. It’s just the time had come.

It’s time for the world to get right

I didn’t get on that bus to be arrested. I got on that bus to go home.

I would like people to think of me as someone who cares about them.

It?s nice to be remembered, but the thing that Mrs Parks led us to a very major victory ? the victory of dignity.?

I knew then and I know now that, when it comes to justice, there is no easy way to get it.

You can’t let your life be controlled by fear.

You must always maintain a sense of self-dignity and self-respect. It is the one thing no one can take away from you.

All the people on the bus were staring at me, thinking I was doing something wrong. But I wasn?t. It wasn?t even about a seat in the front of the bus. It was about dignity.

You have to be strong-willed and persistent even when things get tough.

They’ve all passed long time ago and I’m still here. So I’m the only one who can explain what really happened.

Standing up and being counted in many ways is a lonely thing to do.

I didn’t get on the bus to get arrested I got on the bus to go home.

I felt like Sojourner Truth was pushing down on one shoulder and Harriet Tubman was pushing down on the other?saying, ‘Sit down girl!’ I was glued to my seat.

As the years went by, I realized there is no such thing as a small act of courage.

You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.