We hadn't heard anything about registering to vote because when you see this flat land in here, when the people would get out of the fields, if they had a radio, they'd be too tired to play it. So we didn't know what was going on in the rest of the state, even, much less in other places.

I was forced away from the plantation because I wouldn't go back and withdraw, you know, my literacy test after I had tried to take it. I wouldn't go back.

If the white man gives you anything - just remember when he gets ready he will take it right back. We have to take for ourselves.

If I fall, I'll fall five feet four inches forward in the fight for freedom. I'm not backing off.