John Henrik Clarke Quotes

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John Henrik Clarke

Profession : Author

Birth : January 1, 1915

All the working-class people could feel a Malcolm X. They could hear Malcolm X, and two weeks later they could whisper back what he said. Verbatim. They could remember the way he put it, and he put it so well.

John Henrik Clarke

I understood that my family was rich in love but would probably never own the land my father, John, dreamed of owning. My mother, Willie Ella Mays Clarke, was a washerwoman for poor white folks in the area of Columbus, Georgia where the writer Carson McCullers once lived.

John Henrik Clarke

What I have learned is that a whole lot of people with degrees don't know a damn thing, and a lot of people with no degrees are brilliant.

John Henrik Clarke

I question the political judgement of those who would have the nerve to paint Christ white with his obvious African nose, lips and wooly hair.

John Henrik Clarke

Anytime you turn on your own concept of God, you are no longer a free man. No one needs to put chains on your body, because the chains are on your mind.

John Henrik Clarke

Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad's message made a whole lot of people feel whole again, human being again. Some of them came out and found a new meaning to their manhood and their womanhood.

John Henrik Clarke