Ann Atwater

North Carolina · born or raised1935–2016

American civil rights activist

Born in Hallsboro
Died in Durham

Quotations with a citation

[H]e taught me that whatever I believed in, stand on that, don’t let nobody change me from it. If I knowed it was right and I believed it, then stand on it, and I’ve been doing that ever since.

[N]ever promise anybody something that you couldn’t deliver.

So the first thing I do is ignore you, and go to the children. I pick up the children, talk to the children, play with them, get all down with them and play, and then when they see that I’m in love with the children, then that’s gonna get their attention, and then they’re gonna start talking to me, either to get me away from the children or to hear what I have to say, then I can go on.

Well, I don’t pat myself on the back, I give god the credit of whatever I was able to do. One thing I enjoy when I go out to help somebody is, if they ask me to do something for them, and when I do it the expression on their face gives me a high.