Medgar Evers

“The six of us gathered at my house, and we walked to the polls. I'll never forget it. Not a Negro was on the streets, and when we got to the courthouse, the clerk said he wanted to talk with us. When we got into his office, some 15 or 20 armed white men surged in behind us - men I had grown up with, had played with.”

“I plan to live on campus in a dormitory and to do all the things any other student of the law school might do: use the library, eat in the dining hall, attend classes.”

“Let me appeal to the consciences of many silent, responsible citizens of the white community who know that a victory for democracy in Jackson will be a victory for democracy everywhere.”

“I remember one of them - it was a 1941 black Ford. As it went by very slow, a guy leaned out with a shotgun, keeping a bead on us all the time, and we just had to walk slowly and wait for him to kill us... They didn't kill us, but they didn't end it, either.”

“The Negro has been here in America since 1619, a total of 344 years. He is not going anywhere else; this country is his home. He wants to do his part to help make his city, state, and nation a better place for everyone, regardless of color and race.”

“As paradoxical as life would have it, some of these same persons who were beaten are terrorized by the Nazis are assisting the die-hards of the Citizens' Councils in bringing about economic pressure on Negroes who pay their poll taxes and register in Humphry County.”

“You discover that the education the Negro gets is designed to keep him subservient. The poor black man is exploited by whites and by educated Negroes, too.”

“It may sound funny, but I love the South. I don't choose to live anywhere else. There's land here, where a man can raise cattle, and I'm going to do it some day.”

“Our only hope is to control the vote.”

“As long as God gives me strength to work and try to make things real for my children, I'm going to work for it - even if it means making the ultimate sacrifice.”

“I love my children and I love my wife with all my heart. And I would die, die gladly, if that would make a better life for them.”

“Except for teachers, who are 'controlled' as far as his militancy is concerned, good jobs are rare for Negroes.”

“You can kill a man, but you can't kill an idea.”

“We left the guns hidden in the car and tried walking into the polling place again, and the mob blocked us again. We didn't pursue it.”

“I'll be damned if I'm going to let the white man lick me. There's something out here that I've got to do for my kids, and I'm not going to stop until I've done it.”

“First it was the whites, and then their Negro message bearers. And the word was always the same: 'Tell your sons to take their names off the books. Don't show up at the courthouse voting day.'”

“I may be going to Heaven or Hell, but I'll be going from Jackson.”

“Freedom has never been free.”

“I was born in Decatur, was raised there, but I never in my life was permitted to vote there.”

“The gifts of God should be enjoyed by all citizens in Mississippi.”