Fannie Lou Hamer

"The struggle for freedom never ends."

"We will build a better world together."

"I am proud to be a voice for the voiceless."

"The future belongs to those who believe in it."

"I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired, and I want to do something about it."

"The only thing they can do is kill me and it seems they've been trying to do that a little bit at a time ever since I was born."

"If the white man gives you anything, just remember he is doing you no favors."

"We're going to stay in this nonviolent movement, and if we can't sit at the table of democracy, we'll kneel under it."

"Nobody's free until everybody's free."

"I believe in the Bible. I am a Christian. I believe that it means what it says."

"All my life I've been sick and tired. Now I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired."

"Each person must stand up and be counted, be responsible for their own life and speak out."

"Whether you have a religion or not, if you use your life to help people, you will find your reward."

"I question America. I love America. I gotta say what's on my mind."

"You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom."

"We are tired of digging ditches and plowing mules."

"I'm going to stay the way I am because I am free."

"If you're not ready to die for it, put the word 'freedom' out of your vocabulary."

"America has failed the Negro and we owe the Negro something."

"The law cannot make you love me, but it can keep you from lynching me."

"I do not want my children to follow in the footsteps of either white or black racists."

"Suffering breeds character. It makes you who you are."

"I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free so that other people would be also free."

"We need to stand up and organize and do something about changing this system."

"They beat me until I couldn't recognize myself. That's when it stopped being just about me."

"I'm going to tell you the way it is and if you don't like it, you can leave."

"I was taught to believe that if I worked hard, if I was just and fair and good, everything would be fine."

"You can't make the system work if you don't participate in it."

"I have submitted myself to many things, but never to the point of giving up my dignity."

"What is the use of having a mind if you're not going to use it?"