Kate (right) marches with Iris Judson in high spirits, March 1, 2010, Camden, AL

Some of my favorite quotes by civil rights activists from Wilcox County, Alabama are included in my forthcoming book: This Bright Light of Ours: Stories from the Voting Rights Fight, University of Alabama Press, February 2014.

I am African, Caucasian, and Indian, with all those races coursing through my blood, I claim all of them. – Coy resident, retired teacher and tireless community activist of blessed memory W. Kate Charley

It’s a small world when you get down to people who are doing the right thing, isnt’ it?  – Donald P. Stone, Snow Hill Institute Foundation President, SNCC activist and author.

Donald P Stone with author Maria Gitin, Snow Hill 2008

Through the years I tried to show my sons ways to get through the bitterness and how not to hate white people. When you came, you all gave us courage. And we felt it was our job to protect you. We could never let ourselves think about how helpless we really were because we knew we had God on our side. – Rosetta Anderson, Camden Civil Rights Leader, Wilcox Civic Progressive League, NAACP, SCLC.

Rosetta Anderson
Camden Civil Rights Leader

Rev Dr Lewis V Baldwin, author and King scholar

It is time to take the struggle to the next level, to continue to fight the fight, because we do not live in a post-racial society. The forces of racism are still active across vast stretches of this land, so the struggle must go on. We have no choice but to keep moving, knowing that one day we will reach the promised land. And when that day comes, we can all unite our voices in echoing the immortal words of Dr. King—words that come down from our forebears: `Free at Last, Free at Last, Thank God Almighty, We are free at last.’- Lewis V Baldwin, Camden native, King scholar and author.