--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: ...Negroes must concern themselves with…" description: "\"...Negroes must concern themselves with every single means of struggle: legal, illegal, passive, active, violent and non- violent… They must harass, de..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/156/lorraine-hansberry-7953_acceptance_negroes-must-concern-themselves-with-eve_2879668.jpg" --- # ...Negroes must concern themselves with every single means… ![“...Negroes must concern themselves with every single means of struggle: legal, illegal, passive, active, violent and non- violent… They must harass, debate, petition, boycott, sing hymns, pray on steps--and shoot from their windows when the racists come cruising through their communities… The…” quote by Lorraine Hansberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/156/lorraine-hansberry-7953_acceptance_negroes-must-concern-themselves-with-eve_2879668.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/156/lorraine-hansberry-7953_acceptance_negroes-must-concern-themselves-with-eve_2879668.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/156/lorraine-hansberry-7953_acceptance_negroes-must-concern-themselves-with-eve_2879668.jpg) > “...Negroes must concern themselves with every single means of struggle: legal, illegal, passive, active, violent and non- violent… They must harass, debate, petition, boycott, sing hymns, pray on steps--and shoot from their windows when the racists come cruising through their communities… The acceptance of our condition is the only form of extremism which discredits us before our children \[ellipses in source\].” [Lorraine Hansberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorraine-hansberry/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Advocates a multifaceted approach to struggle, using both lawful and unlawful tactics, peaceful and violent, to combat racism. **In simple terms:** Use many tactics to fight oppression. Key Takeaway Employ diverse strategies against injustice. Themes activism resistance strategy racial justice Mood determined urgent Type political activist When to use this quote - civil rights movements - community organizing - political advocacy Key Concepts multimodal protest ethical dilemma Questions to Reflect On - What tactics are most effective today? - How to balance ethics and urgency? A Different Perspective Violence may undermine moral authority. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Acceptance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/acceptance/) [Active](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/active/) [Boycott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boycott/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Civil rights](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civil-rights/) [Civil rights movement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civil-rights-movement/) [Community](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/community/) [Concern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/concern/) [Conditions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conditions/) [Debate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/debate/) [Discredit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discredit/) [Extremism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extremism/) [Form](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/form/) [Form Extremism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/form-extremism-3829018/) [Hymns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hymns/) [Illegal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/illegal/) [Mean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mean/) [Negroes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/negroes/) [Negroes Concern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/negroes-concern-3984468/) [Non violent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/non-violent/) [Our children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/our-children/) [Passive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passive/) [Petitions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/petitions/) [Praying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/praying/) [Racism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/racism/) [Racist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/racist/) [Source](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/source/) [Steps](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/steps/) [Struggle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/struggle/) [Violent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/violent/) [Window](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/window/) ## Related quotes > [In South Africa, we could not have achieved our freedom and just peace without the help of people around the world, who through the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/desmond-tutu/in-south-africa-we-could-not-have-achieved-our-freedom-and-just-peace/) [Desmond Tutu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/desmond-tutu/) > [If a man has not, by the time he is thirty, yielded to the fascination of every form of extremism—I don't know whether he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-a-man-has-not-by-the-time-he-is-thirty-yielded-to-the-fascination/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Try to avoid misunderstanding because it give birth to an anger which is also another form of extremism; and it kills knowledge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/asif-z-warsi/try-to-avoid-misunderstanding-because-it-give-birth-to-an-anger-which/) [Asif Z Warsi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/asif-z-warsi/) > [“NATIONALISM is another form of EXTREMISM”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mouloud-benzadi/nationalism-is-another-form-of-extremism/) [Mouloud Benzadi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mouloud-benzadi/) > [Daddy felt that this country was hopeless in its treatment of Negroes. So he became a refugee from America. He bought a house in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorraine-hansberry/daddy-felt-that-this-country-was-hopeless-in-its-treatment-of-negroes/) [Lorraine Hansberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorraine-hansberry/) > [A truly nonviolent man would never live to tell the tale of atrocities. He would have laid down his life on the spot in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/a-truly-nonviolent-man-would-never-live-to-tell-the-tale-of/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [When the democratic deficit is so enormous, people are left with very little option but to take peaceful, non-violent direct action.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caroline-lucas/when-the-democratic-deficit-is-so-enormous-people-are-left-with-very/) [Caroline Lucas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caroline-lucas/) > [Non-violent resistance implies the very opposite of weakness. Defiance combined with non-retaliatory acceptance of repression from one's opponents is active, not passive. It requires…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/non-violent-resistance-implies-the-very-opposite-of-weakness-defiance/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [I make a distinction between Buddhism with a Capital 'B' and buddhism with a small 'b'. Sri Lanka has the former, in which the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sulak-sivaraksa/i-make-a-distinction-between-buddhism-with-a-capital-b-and-buddhism/) [Sulak Sivaraksa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sulak-sivaraksa/) > [In the next 30 years we can destroy our world. With the very same powers - spiritual, social, scientific - we can evolve our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-marx-hubbard/in-the-next-30-years-we-can-destroy-our-world-with-the-very-same/) [Barbara Marx Hubbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-marx-hubbard/) > [There's no reason to be non-violent. There's no challenge unless you are living for people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesar-chavez/there-s-no-reason-to-be-non-violent-there-s-no-challenge-unless-you/) [Cesar Chavez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesar-chavez/) > [If I were asked to define the Hindu creed, I should simply say: Search after truth through non-violent means. A man may not believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/if-i-were-asked-to-define-the-hindu-creed-i-should-simply-say-search/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [I'm a very great non-violent character. I would never resort to violence to change anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-brown/i-m-a-very-great-non-violent-character-i-would-never-resort-to/) [Bob Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-brown/) > [And in the racial climate of this country today, it is anybody's guess which of the 'extremes' in approach to the black man's problems…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/and-in-the-racial-climate-of-this-country-today-it-is-anybody-s-guess/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/victory-attained-by-violence-is-tantamount-to-a-defeat-for-it-is/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) ## More by Lorraine Hansberry > [One for whom bread- food- is not enough.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorraine-hansberry/one-for-whom-bread-food-is-not-enough/) [Lorraine Hansberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorraine-hansberry/) > [“Perhaps I will be a great man...I mean perhaps I will hold on to the substance of truth and find my way always with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorraine-hansberry/perhaps-i-will-be-a-great-man-i-mean-perhaps-i-will-hold-on-to-the/) [Lorraine Hansberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorraine-hansberry/) > [This is one of the glories of man, the inventiveness of the human mind and the human spirit: whenever life doesn't seem to give…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorraine-hansberry/this-is-one-of-the-glories-of-man-the-inventiveness-of-the-human-mind/) [Lorraine Hansberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorraine-hansberry/) > [I am a writer. I suppose I think that the highest gift that man has is art, and I am audacious enough to think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorraine-hansberry/i-am-a-writer-i-suppose-i-think-that-the-highest-gift-that-man-has-is/) [Lorraine Hansberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorraine-hansberry/) > [ “\[Beneatha Younger:\]... He said everybody ought to learn how to sit down and hate each other with good Chrisitan fellowship. \[excerpt from Act II,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorraine-hansberry/beneatha-younger-he-said-everybody-ought-to-learn-how-to-sit-down-and/) [Lorraine Hansberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorraine-hansberry/) > [You don't have to go to the kings and queens of the earth - I think the Greeks and Elizabethans did this because it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorraine-hansberry/you-don-t-have-to-go-to-the-kings-and-queens-of-the-earth-i-think-the/) [Lorraine Hansberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorraine-hansberry/) > [Children see things very well sometimes and idealists even better.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorraine-hansberry/children-see-things-very-well-sometimes-and-idealists-even-better/) [Lorraine Hansberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorraine-hansberry/) > [ \[T\]here is only one large circle that we march in, around and around, each of us with our own little picture -- in front… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorraine-hansberry/t-here-is-only-one-large-circle-that-we-march-in-around-and-around/) [Lorraine Hansberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorraine-hansberry/) > [I feel that women - without wishing to foster any strict separatist notions, homo or hetero - indeed have a need for their own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorraine-hansberry/i-feel-that-women-without-wishing-to-foster-any-strict-separatist/) [Lorraine Hansberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorraine-hansberry/) > [I happen to believe that most people - and this is where I differ from many of my contemporaries, or at least as they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorraine-hansberry/i-happen-to-believe-that-most-people-and-this-is-where-i-differ-from/) [Lorraine Hansberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorraine-hansberry/) > [Everybody talking 'bout heaven ain't going there!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorraine-hansberry/everybody-talking-bout-heaven-ain-t-going-there/) [Lorraine Hansberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorraine-hansberry/) > [Men continue to misinterpret the second-rate status of women as implying a privileged status for themselves; heterosexuals think the same way about homosexuals; gentiles…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorraine-hansberry/men-continue-to-misinterpret-the-second-rate-status-of-women-as/) [Lorraine Hansberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorraine-hansberry/) > [I don't want to have anyone else to do my housework. I've always done it myself. I believe you should do it yourself. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorraine-hansberry/i-don-t-want-to-have-anyone-else-to-do-my-housework-i-ve-always-done/) [Lorraine Hansberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorraine-hansberry/) > [I was born black and female.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorraine-hansberry/i-was-born-black-and-female/) [Lorraine Hansberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorraine-hansberry/) > [I'm just tired of hearing about God all the time. What has He got to do with anything?... I'm not going to be immoral…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorraine-hansberry/i-m-just-tired-of-hearing-about-god-all-the-time-what-has-he-got-to/) [Lorraine Hansberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorraine-hansberry/) [Explore all 85 Lorraine Hansberry quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorraine-hansberry/) ## More Acceptance quotes > [We only enter into the full life if our faith gives thanks. Because how else do we accept His free gift of salvation if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-voskamp/we-only-enter-into-the-full-life-if-our-faith-gives-thanks-because/) [Ann Voskamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-voskamp/) > [You dont choose your life; it chooses you. Theres no point asking why life has reserved certain joys or griefs, you just accept them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/you-dont-choose-your-life-it-chooses-you-theres-no-point-asking-why/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [Losing someone is easy, but accepting it is hard.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/losing-someone-is-easy-but-accepting-it-is-hard/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [When one fib becomes due as it were, you must forge another to take up the old acceptance; and so the stock of your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-makepeace-thackeray/when-one-fib-becomes-due-as-it-were-you-must-forge-another-to-take-up/) [William Makepeace Thackeray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-makepeace-thackeray/) > [Acceptance of death when it arrives is one thing, but to allow it to upstage the joys of living is ingratitude.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-blythe/acceptance-of-death-when-it-arrives-is-one-thing-but-to-allow-it-to/) [Ronald Blythe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-blythe/) > [“Loving someone who does not love you back hurts, alot, i know. It is liking seeing these pair of shoes at the retail store…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nomthandazo-tsembeni/loving-someone-who-does-not-love-you-back-hurts-alot-i-know-it-is/) [Nomthandazo Tsembeni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nomthandazo-tsembeni/) > [Take responsibily for your past, the bad memories of poor decisions you took were your choices once, and you liked them for the moment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aruho-marvin/take-responsibily-for-your-past-the-bad-memories-of-poor-decisions/) [Aruho Marvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aruho-marvin/) > [Let us learn to accept and appreciate things now, and we'll find more happiness in every moment we live. Happiness comes when we stop…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-rambharack/let-us-learn-to-accept-and-appreciate-things-now-and-we-ll-find-more/) [Glen Rambharack](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-rambharack/) > [“Love first; ask questions later.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-courtney/love-first-ask-questions-later/) [Jeremy Courtney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-courtney/) > [“There was beauty in chaos, she'd just never known it before.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amanda-linsmeier/there-was-beauty-in-chaos-she-d-just-never-known-it-before/) [Amanda Linsmeier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amanda-linsmeier/) > [Accepting the challenges in life makes it interesting and overcoming them makes it eloquent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/accepting-the-challenges-in-life-makes-it-interesting-and-overcoming/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Acceptance is the only thing you should teach. Be it Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Dalit, you must inculcate acceptance, not tolerance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kamal-haasan/acceptance-is-the-only-thing-you-should-teach-be-it-christian-muslim/) [Kamal Haasan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kamal-haasan/) > [There just seems to be more acceptance now of other kinds of British films, than the picture-postcard ones.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-roth/there-just-seems-to-be-more-acceptance-now-of-other-kinds-of-british/) [Tim Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-roth/) > [You should never hate anyone, even your worst enemies. Everyone has something good about them. You have to find the redeeming quality and love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeannette-walls/you-should-never-hate-anyone-even-your-worst-enemies-everyone-has/) [Jeannette Walls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeannette-walls/) > [The sense that in this universe we are treated as strangers, the longing to be acknowledged, to meet with some response, to bridge some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-sense-that-in-this-universe-we-are-treated-as-strangers-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 3,960 Acceptance quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/acceptance/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "...Negroes must concern themselves with every single means of struggle: legal, illegal, passive, active, violent and non- violent… They must harass, debate, petition, boycott, sing hymns, pray on steps--and shoot from their windows when the racists come cruising through their communities… The acceptance of our condition is the only form of extremism which discredits us before our children [ellipses in source].", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lorraine Hansberry" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorraine-hansberry/negroes-must-concern-themselves-with-every-single-means-of-struggle/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Acceptance" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorraine-hansberry/negroes-must-concern-themselves-with-every-single-means-of-struggle/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/156/lorraine-hansberry-7953_acceptance_negroes-must-concern-themselves-with-eve_2879668.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/156/lorraine-hansberry-7953_acceptance_negroes-must-concern-themselves-with-eve_2879668.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/156/lorraine-hansberry-7953_acceptance_negroes-must-concern-themselves-with-eve_2879668.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“...Negroes must concern themselves with every single means of struggle: legal, illegal, passive, active…” — Lorraine Hansberry", "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": "Lorraine Hansberry", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorraine-hansberry/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "...Negroes must concern themselves with every...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorraine-hansberry/negroes-must-concern-themselves-with-every-single-means-of-struggle/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorraine-hansberry/negroes-must-concern-themselves-with-every-single-means-of-struggle/#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 } } ] } ```