James Meredith

“I was on a divine mission to break the system of white supremacy.”

“Nothing could be more insulting to me than the concept of civil rights. It means perpetual second-class citizenship. It's the most tragic joke in the world.”

“The issue is not integration. The issue is whether I'll be a first-class citizen in my own country.”

“One of the things I am proudest of is that I am a Mississippian.”

“The issue is not integration. The issue is whether or not black people are going to be full-fledged American citizens.”

“Nothing could be more insulting to me than the concept of civil rights. It means perpetual second-class citizenship. I've got my civil rights. I want my human rights.”

“I am not a civil rights activist. I am a citizen of the United States of America.”

“My long-range goal is to see a black man walk into a bank in Mississippi and get a loan to buy a house.”

“I am not a civil rights activist. I am a citizen of the United States of America.”

“My mission is from God.”

“The two things that could have been better is number one, to get blacks to register and vote in whatever is the dominant party.”

“I don't think I'm a hero. I'm just an ordinary man who was called upon to do an extraordinary thing.”

“Fear is the greatest weapon of the devil.”

“I consider myself an individual, I just had a divine responsibility to crush white supremacy.”

“I believe that the greatest conqueror in the world is the Holy Spirit.”

“The family is the most important unit in the black community. If we don’t have a strong family, we don’t have anything.”

“What I’m trying to do is get the black man to see himself as a man.”

“I don't want to be a symbol. I want to be a man.”

“Nobody handpicked me, nobody chose me, and nobody nominated me. I was brought by my own consent, I was guided by my own beliefs, and I am here stood by my own willing.”

“I was engaged in a war. I was engaged in a war from day one, a war against white supremacy.”