My Future Depends Mostly Upon Myself.

The Faces And The Tactics Of The Leaders May Change Every Four Years, Or Two, Or One, But The People Go On Forever.

With Othello, Shakespeare Posed This Problem Of A Black Man In A White Society In The Role That He's Playing. And Shakespeare Gave Othello Such Dignity - He Came Not From - As He Said - Not From Hate But From Honor, From A Sense Of His Own Human Dignity. And To Me, To My Mind, There Could Be No Greater Character Played.

If The American Negro Is To Have A Culture Of His Own He Will Have To Leave America To Get It.

Every Artist, Every Scientist, Must Decide Now Where He Stands. He Has No Alternative. There Is No Standing Above The Conflict On Olympian Heights. There Are No Impartial Observers. Through The Destruction, In Certain Countries, Of The Greatest Of Man's Literary Heritage, Through The Propagation Of False Ideas Of Racial And National Superiority, The Artist, The Scientist, The Writer Is Challenged. The Struggle Invades The Formerly Cloistered Halls Of Our Universities And Other Seats Of Learning. The Battlefront Is Everywhere. There Is No Sheltered Rear.

Could I Say That The Reason That I Am Here Today, You Know, From The Mouth Of The State Department Itself, Is: I Should Not Be Allowed To Travel Because I Have Struggled For Years For The Independence Of The Colonial Peoples Of Africa.