Ken Burns Quotes

Rosa Parks will be remembered for her lasting contributions to society. Her legacy lives on in the continued struggle for civil rights around the world. She will be missed.

I've always had sort of an interest in American history, full stop, and especially people who contributed to the civil rights struggle.

I grew up reading Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.

In college, I was so blessed to have relationships with those who did the civil rights movement.

Every day I wear my Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth medallions around my neck. When I think I'm having a bad day, I try to think about their day, and I get up.

I have to pinch myself sometimes. It's unbelievable, but it's not. Because I know that this would not be happening if it hadn't been for Dr. Martin Luther King.

Listen, here's reality. It is completely unfair and absolutely necessary that people who have been oppressed and marginalized have to lead everybody. That is MLK, that is Dolores Huerta, that is Fannie Lou Hamer, that is Ella Jo Baker, that is Nelson Mandela. You walk down the line.

Part of why I have started writing about love is feeling that our culture is forgetting what Martin Luther King taught. We name more and more streets and schools after him but that's almost irrelevant, because what is to be remembered is that strength to love.

Dr. King's Nobel Prize had a more powerful transforming effect on him than I think he realized at the time.

My all-time heroes are Thurgood Marshall and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., two men who had to really work to achieve what they did. And I had the privilege of meeting them both.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is one of my personal heroes.

Martin Luther King was a leader for all Americans on our own professed values.

The world is better because of Coretta Scott King. She affected countless lives and her voice will be deeply missed, especially by those who carry on her incredible undertaking.

Our mothers' generation fought so hard to change things and we're the first generation to benefit. And now you get girls in their twenties who say they're not feminists.

When I wrote the song, The Way It Is, I wanted to move people to take a stand on civil rights in this country.

Rosa Parks inspired many. She will not be forgotten.

My friends in the Congress, I have known Coretta King since I went south during the civil rights movement as a lawyer. She was a vibrant, consistent, totally dedicated partner with her husband.

Dr. King is so inspiring, so impressive, so moving as a human being.

Don't be a marshmallow. Walk the street with us into history. Get off the sidewalk. Stop being vegetables. Work for Justice. Viva the boycott!

Let me say … how deeply grateful all people of good will are to you for your assiduous labor and dauntless courage in seeking to make the Civil Rights Bill a reality.

We will have demonstrations until the injustices that have caused them are eliminated.

I cannot sit by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

I want you to leave here with a sense of mission. Martin Luther King is waiting for you to march with him.

Reading the Martin Luther King story, that little comic book, set me on the path that I'm on today.

I've learned to appreciate the thinking of John Kennedy.