"I do the very best I can to look upon life with optimism and hope and looking forward to a better day, but I don't th…"

"God has always given me the strength to say what is right... I had the strength of God and my ancestors with me."

"From my upbringing and the Bible I learned people should stand up for rights just as the children of Israel stood up …"

"I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all p…"

"People always said that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically…"

"I did not want to be mistreated, I did not want to be deprived of a seat that I had paid for. It was just time... the…"

"Thank you very much. I honor my late husband Raymond Parks, other Freedom Fighters, men of goodwill who could not be …"

"I did not get on the bus to get arrested. I got on the bus to go home."

"I'd see the bus pass every day... But to me, that was a way of life; we had no choice but to accept what was the cust…"

"We didn't have any civil rights. It was just a matter of survival, of existing from one day to the next. I remember g…"