Quotes from Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.

Where Negroes provide 20 percent of the vote, they should have 20 per cent of the jobs.

There is no future for a people who deny their past.

We have produced a world of contented bodies and discontented minds.

Press forward at all times, climbing forward toward that higher ground of the harmonious society that shapes the laws of man to the laws of God.

During past years, like frightened children, we were afraid to eat the strong meat of human rights and instead sucked the milk of civil rights from the breasts of white liberals, black Uncle Toms, and Aunt Jemimas.

Tremendous changes are taking place in our country, eradicating the concept of second-class citizenship.

I believe that Christianity in the United States has been dragging its feet, and I don't think there's any other force in America that has been more detrimental to the solution of our racial problems than Christianity.

I am proud to be a member of the Congress of the United States.

The black masses must demand and refuse to accept nothing less than that proportionate percentage of the political spoils such as jobs, elective offices and appointments... They must reject the shameful racial tokenism that characterizes the political life of America today.

The black man continues on his way. He plods wearily no longer-he is striding freedom road with the knowledge that if he hasn't got the world in a jug, at least he has the stopper in his hand.

I'm advocating that American citizens interested in democracy should stay out of chain stores.

Only legislative, judicial, and executive action can completely guarantee the victory of the free world.