Collected Meditations
Showing 35 quotesWe learned about people like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington and Marian Anderson. Harriet Tubman was my favorite.— Claudette Colvin
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
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
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
topics:
Teacher
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
I became aware of how the world is and how the white establishment plays black people against each other.— Claudette Colvin
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
topics:
Women
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
topics:
Easter
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
I was about four years old the first time I ever saw what happened when you acted up to whites.— Claudette Colvin
Young people think Rosa Parks just sat down on a bus and ended segregation, but that wasn't the case at all.— Claudette Colvin
When our founding fathers drafted the Constitution and Bill of Rights, black people weren't even considered human.— Claudette Colvin