Mordecai Wyatt Johnson

“We want a society in which every man, woman, and child is judged on the basis of his or her own individual merit.”

“Prejudice is the child of ignorance.”

“Segregation is a cancer in the body politic which must be removed before our democratic health can be realized.”

“A university is not a resting place for the learned, but a workshop for the learners.”

“The university must be a place of light, of liberty, and of learning.”

“Jesus was a revolutionary… The prophet of the most radical revolution in the history of the human race.”

“The destiny of the Negro in America is the destiny of America.”

“The Negro must think of himself in world terms, and must not be satisfied with anything less than a truly democratic society.”

“We cannot have a world half-slave and half-free.”

“The supreme function of the university is to train the mind to think.”

“There is no great movement of the human spirit that has not been led by men and women who have been possessed by a great idea.”

“No man can be a Christian and a segregationist at the same time.”

“We must be prepared to pay the price for freedom.”