It was very clear to me in 1965 in Mississippi that as a lawyer I could get people into schools desegregate the schools but if they were kicked off the plantations - and if they didn't have food didn't have jobs didn't have health care didn't have the means to exercise those civil rights we were not going to have success.

If you don't want women to do whatever they need to do then you must provide them with food you must provide them with shelter and their basic human rights.

We have not sought this conflict we have sought too long to avoid it our forbearance has been construed into weakness our magnanimity into fear until the vindication of our manhood as well as the defence of our rights is required at our hands.

As long as enough people can be frightened then all people can be ruled. That is how it works in a democratic system and mass fear becomes the ticket to destroy rights across the board.

'Freedom from fear' could be said to sum up the whole philosophy of human rights.

Maya Angelou the famous African American poet historian and civil rights activist who is hailed be many as one of the great voices of contemporary literature believes a struggle only makes a person stronger.

The records of adopted children are sealed in California. That seal is considered inviolable... The judge ruled that because I was famous he didn't have the same rights as other kids.

Life is not a matter of place things or comfort rather it concerns the basic human rights of family country justice and human dignity.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights describes the family as the natural and fundamental unit of society. It follows that any choice and decision with regard to the size of the family must irrevocably rest with the family itself and cannot be made by anyone else.

The civil rights movement was based on faith. Many of us who were participants in this movement saw our involvement as an extension of our faith. We saw ourselves doing the work of the Almighty. Segregation and racial discrimination were not in keeping with our faith so we had to do something.