If I had been at a University I don't think I would have been able to have the experience I had in my Smithsonian work. I don't think I have been as successful Bernice Johnson Reagon More Quotes by Bernice Johnson Reagon More Quotes From Bernice Johnson Reagon Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are. Bernice Johnson Reagon stay-strong business motivational If you're in a coalition and you're comfortable, you know it's not a broad enough coalition. Bernice Johnson Reagon coalitions broads enough There is nowhere you can go and only be with people who are like you. Give it up. Bernice Johnson Reagon ubuntu peace people Mothering/nurturing is a vital force and process establishing relationships throughout the universe. Bernice Johnson Reagon establishing-relationships force process If every moment is sacred and if you are amazed and in awe most of the time when you find yourself breathing and not crazy, then you are in a state of constant thankfulness, worship and humility. Bernice Johnson Reagon breathing crazy humility If, in moving through your life, you find yourself lost, go back to the last place where you knew who you were, and what you were doing, and start from there. Bernice Johnson Reagon finding-yourself lasts moving I think the Civil Rights Movement changed that trajectory for me. The first thing I did was leave school. I was suspended for my participation in Movement demonstrations in my hometown, December, 1961 Bernice Johnson Reagon rights school thinking If we dwell in a community that is comfortable, then it's probably not broad enough a coalition. Bernice Johnson Reagon democracy community enough It makes sense that whatever the topic is, it's more compelling if you can provide the audience with a range of perspectives, and you can cross disciplines. And you don't have to control what people take out of it. Bernice Johnson Reagon perspective discipline people Coming up in the African-American culture, we were taught that we belonged to the universe and society was wrong in the way it dealt with us. We had to learn to express and affirm values not from the winning position. Bernice Johnson Reagon african-american winning culture Today whenever women gather together it is not necessarily nurturing. It is coalition building. And if you feel the strain, you may be doing some good work. Bernice Johnson Reagon together work may The voice I have now, I got the first time I sang in a movement meeting, after I got out of jail... and I'd never heard it before in my life. Bernice Johnson Reagon jail movement voice The Civil Rights Movement also reaffirmed me as a singer. It taught me that singing was not entertainment, it was something else. Bernice Johnson Reagon singing movement rights When I started graduate school I was interested in the culture of the Civil Rights Movement. Bernice Johnson Reagon rights culture school I was at the Smithsonian for twenty years, and I'm still at the Smithsonian as a curator emeritus, and I still plan to figure out what that means for me at this point in my life Bernice Johnson Reagon twenties mean years So one of the things that happened with integration in the South is they found that the black teachers were much more educated than the white teachers. Bernice Johnson Reagon black white teacher But I'm a historian. I wasn't interested in just being a producer, I was interested in doing research and presenting that research to a general public Bernice Johnson Reagon just-being producers research Well, the first time I ran into the term religion, people were asking whether you had any. You know, some people had religion and some people didn't have religion Bernice Johnson Reagon asking people firsts And I used to think that proof that I had religion was whether I knew how to sing all of the songs. Bernice Johnson Reagon proof song thinking I came out of the Civil Rights Movement, and I had a different kind of focus than most people who have just the academic background as their primary training experience Bernice Johnson Reagon focus rights people
