"When President Kennedy was elected, many black Americans, like so many Americans, were captivated by..." — Marian Wright Edelman

I never thought I was breaking a glass ceiling. I just had to do what I had to do, and it never occurred to me not to.

It never occurred to me that I was not going to challenge segregation.

I've always hated being hemmed in or seeing anybody being hemmed in. Even when I was the smallest child, I couldn't bear being told I couldn't drink at a so-called white drinking fountain.

I need to work outside government, on my own.