--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: And more than that, it was the first big…" description: "\"“And more than that, it was the first big step the nation's servant class ever took without asking.”\" — Isabel Wilkerson" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/722/isabel-wilkerson-10765_servant_and-more-than-that-it-was-the-first-big_2896158.jpg" --- # And more than that, it was the first big step the nation's… ![“And more than that, it was the first big step the nation's servant class ever took without asking.” quote by Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/722/isabel-wilkerson-10765_servant_and-more-than-that-it-was-the-first-big_2896158.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/722/isabel-wilkerson-10765_servant_and-more-than-that-it-was-the-first-big_2896158.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/722/isabel-wilkerson-10765_servant_and-more-than-that-it-was-the-first-big_2896158.jpg) > ““And more than that, it was the first big step the nation's servant class ever took without asking.”” [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A marginalized group took a significant step forward without external prompting. **In simple terms:** First major step taken independently. Key Takeaway Support autonomous progress. Themes social change agency empowerment historical milestones Mood hopeful determined Type historical inspirational When to use this quote - community organizing - policy reform - grassroots movements Key Concepts civil rights collective action self-determination Questions to Reflect On - What barriers remain after this step? - How can momentum be sustained? A Different Perspective Progress may be limited without broader support. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Servant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/servant/) ## Related quotes > [“It was a “folk movement of incalculable moment,” McMillen said. And more than that, it was the first big step the nation’s servant class…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/it-was-a-folk-movement-of-incalculable-moment-mcmillen-said-and-more/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [I remember a drama class that I took where they were like, 'Okay, so the first thing you do is think about the worst…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/molly-gordon/i-remember-a-drama-class-that-i-took-where-they-were-like-okay-so-the/) [Molly Gordon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/molly-gordon/) > [I was going to be a doctor since I was three, so I was pre-med in college. Everything I did, every class I took,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yael-cohen/i-was-going-to-be-a-doctor-since-i-was-three-so-i-was-pre-med-in/) [Yael Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yael-cohen/) > [That first CS class I took, I felt like I was drowning. It's like being taught how to swim by being thrown off deck.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justine-bateman/that-first-cs-class-i-took-i-felt-like-i-was-drowning-it-s-like-being/) [Justine Bateman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justine-bateman/) > [The best class I ever took in high school was typing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-hernandez/the-best-class-i-ever-took-in-high-school-was-typing/) [Keith Hernandez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-hernandez/) > [“My confusion about the separation between the servant class and the upper middle class revealed a quintessentially American point of view. Status is much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eboo-patel/my-confusion-about-the-separation-between-the-servant-class-and-the/) [Eboo Patel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eboo-patel/) > [We are creating a culture where content creators are a new servant class, and paid as such.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rosanne-cash/we-are-creating-a-culture-where-content-creators-are-a-new-servant/) [Rosanne Cash](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rosanne-cash/) > [The masters thought they were loved until one day one of their favorites farted loudly while serving dinner and the next day was gone.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kenneth-galbraith/the-masters-thought-they-were-loved-until-one-day-one-of-their/) [John Kenneth Galbraith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kenneth-galbraith/) > [... it is more than petty treason to the Republic, to call a free citizen a servant. The whole class of young women, whose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-trollope/it-is-more-than-petty-treason-to-the-republic-to-call-a-free-citizen/) [Frances Trollope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-trollope/) > [I want to be very honest, that I believe impeachment is a very big step - I believe it is something that should not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elissa-slotkin/i-want-to-be-very-honest-that-i-believe-impeachment-is-a-very-big/) [Elissa Slotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elissa-slotkin/) > [I have made a big step forward since leaving Shakhtar for Bayern.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-costa/i-have-made-a-big-step-forward-since-leaving-shakhtar-for-bayern/) [Douglas Costa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-costa/) > [The only real indulgence was buying a house. That was a pretty big step.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/calista-flockhart/the-only-real-indulgence-was-buying-a-house-that-was-a-pretty-big-step/) [Calista Flockhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/calista-flockhart/) > [It's a great big step for me to open my heart up even a little bit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-denver/it-s-a-great-big-step-for-me-to-open-my-heart-up-even-a-little-bit/) [John Denver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-denver/) > [Do not be afraid of taking a big step-you cannot cross a chasm in two steps.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lloyd-george/do-not-be-afraid-of-taking-a-big-step-you-cannot-cross-a-chasm-in-two/) [David Lloyd George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lloyd-george/) > ['Merlin' was a big step; it was my first big role in a show.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-hopper/merlin-was-a-big-step-it-was-my-first-big-role-in-a-show/) [Tom Hopper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-hopper/) ## More by Isabel Wilkerson > [“That one over this is the one for the use of the white people,” Judge Amistead Jones said. “Not that I am a stickler…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/that-one-over-this-is-the-one-for-the-use-of-the-white-people-judge/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“...they speak like melted butter and their children speak like footsteps on pavement...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/they-speak-like-melted-butter-and-their-children-speak-like-footsteps/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [Many immigrants do not talk about what they endured back home. They were fleeing that world, and when they left they didn't want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/many-immigrants-do-not-talk-about-what-they-endured-back-home-they/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“Many of the people who left the South never exactly sat their children down to tell them these things, tell them what happened and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/many-of-the-people-who-left-the-south-never-exactly-sat-their/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“Fifteen thousand men, women, and children gathered to watch eighteen-year-old Jesse Washington as he was burned alive in Waco, Texas, in May 1916. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/fifteen-thousand-men-women-and-children-gathered-to-watch-eighteen/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [It occurred to me that no matter where I lived, geography could not save me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/it-occurred-to-me-that-no-matter-where-i-lived-geography-could-not/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [Well, I'm a daughter of the great migration as, really, the majority of African Americans that you meet in the north and west are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/well-i-m-a-daughter-of-the-great-migration-as-really-the-majority-of/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [There were colored and white waiting rooms everywhere, from doctor's offices to the bus stations, as people may already know. But there were actually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/there-were-colored-and-white-waiting-rooms-everywhere-from-doctor-s/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“I don’t see one white person in this block selling drugs. They got the nerve to be mad at the blue-eyed devil. You don’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/i-don-t-see-one-white-person-in-this-block-selling-drugs-they-got-the/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“That the Negro American has survived at all is extraordinary —a lesser people might simply have died out, as indeed others have. — DANIEL…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/that-the-negro-american-has-survived-at-all-is-extraordinary-a-lesser/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“The reality was that Jim Crow filtered through the economy, north and south, and pressed down on poor and working-class people of all races.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/the-reality-was-that-jim-crow-filtered-through-the-economy-north-and/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [I mean my mother migrated from Georgia -Rome, Georgia, to Washington, D.C., where she then met my father, who was a Tuskegee Airman who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/i-mean-my-mother-migrated-from-georgia-rome-georgia-to-washington-d-c/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [You must leave this world a better place than it would have been if you had not existed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/you-must-leave-this-world-a-better-place-than-it-would-have-been-if/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“County supervisors relented only after losing their case in the U.S. Supreme Court, choosing finally to reopen the schools rather than face imprisonment.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/county-supervisors-relented-only-after-losing-their-case-in-the-u-s/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [My parents sent me to a school across town, an integrated school, where I had the chance to meet and grow up with people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/my-parents-sent-me-to-a-school-across-town-an-integrated-school-where/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) [Explore all 63 Isabel Wilkerson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) ## More Servant quotes > [“Serve in the grace of strength within thy soul.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/serve-in-the-grace-of-strength-within-thy-soul/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [In relations between the rich and the strong, between the rich and the poor, between the master and the servant, it's liberty that grinds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/in-relations-between-the-rich-and-the-strong-between-the-rich-and-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [May God bless each of us in our calls to serve. May our faith strengthen as we serve in righteousness, faithfully keeping the commandments.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-tom-perry/may-god-bless-each-of-us-in-our-calls-to-serve-may-our-faith/) [L. Tom Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-tom-perry/) > [Laws are not masters but servants, and he rules them who obey them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/laws-are-not-masters-but-servants-and-he-rules-them-who-obey-them/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [If you are the master be sometimes blind, if you are the servant be sometimes deaf.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-buckminster-fuller/if-you-are-the-master-be-sometimes-blind-if-you-are-the-servant-be/) [R. Buckminster Fuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-buckminster-fuller/) > [No lusting after your neighbor's house - or wife or servant or maid or ox or donkey. Don't set your heart on anything that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/moses/no-lusting-after-your-neighbor-s-house-or-wife-or-servant-or-maid-or/) [Moses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/moses/) > [Great God of the Ants, thou hast granted victory to thy servants. I appoint thee honorary Colonel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karel-capek/great-god-of-the-ants-thou-hast-granted-victory-to-thy-servants-i/) [Karel Capek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karel-capek/) > [Why is it that at a bachelor's establishment the servants invariably drink the champagne.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/why-is-it-that-at-a-bachelor-s-establishment-the-servants-invariably/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [In politics we face the choice between warmongering, nation-state loving, big-business agents on one hand; and risk-blind, top-down, epistemic arrogant big servants of large…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/in-politics-we-face-the-choice-between-warmongering-nation-state/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [The extraordinary woman depends on the ordinary woman. It is only when we know what were the conditions of the average woman's life -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/the-extraordinary-woman-depends-on-the-ordinary-woman-it-is-only-when/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [Man becomes not the lord and master of all creation but he is its servant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/man-becomes-not-the-lord-and-master-of-all-creation-but-he-is-its/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Do not value money for any more nor any less than its worth; it is a good servant but a bad master.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-alexandre-dumas/do-not-value-money-for-any-more-nor-any-less-than-its-worth-it-is-a/) Thomas-Alexandre Dumas > [“Miss Fields," said a servant, stepping into the room and closing the door, "There is a visitor for you. Are you in?" Clare blinked.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-starbuck/miss-fields-said-a-servant-stepping-into-the-room-and-closing-the/) [Sam Starbuck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-starbuck/) > [“king of Heshbon. 6 b Moses, the servant of the”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/king-of-heshbon-6-b-moses-the-servant-of-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Socialism would gather all power to the supreme party and party leaders, rising like stately pinnacles above their vast bureaucracies of civil servants no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/socialism-would-gather-all-power-to-the-supreme-party-and-party/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) [Browse all 1,519 Servant quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/servant/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“And more than that, it was the first big step the nation's servant class ever took without asking.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Isabel Wilkerson" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/and-more-than-that-it-was-the-first-big-step-the-nation-s-servant/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Servant" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/and-more-than-that-it-was-the-first-big-step-the-nation-s-servant/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/722/isabel-wilkerson-10765_servant_and-more-than-that-it-was-the-first-big_2896158.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/722/isabel-wilkerson-10765_servant_and-more-than-that-it-was-the-first-big_2896158.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/722/isabel-wilkerson-10765_servant_and-more-than-that-it-was-the-first-big_2896158.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“And more than that, it was the first big step the nation's servant class ever took without asking.” — Isabel Wilkerson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Isabel Wilkerson", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“And more than that, it was...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/and-more-than-that-it-was-the-first-big-step-the-nation-s-servant/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/and-more-than-that-it-was-the-first-big-step-the-nation-s-servant/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```