Can you identify the author of this quote involving the civil rights movement?

I’ve heard several versions of this. The one that has always stuck with me is from an incredibly touching episode of Designing Women in which a 100-year old black woman in the hospital on New Year’s Eve says the following right before she dies.

I thought as I got older, the bold outlines of truth would be revealed to me, but it hasn’t happened. When I was young, I was in such a hurry. And now, I’ve been here a hundred years. And, it seems like only yesterday I held my babies in my arms. I’m glad to be going home. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen my family. And I wish for all of you, all the love and happiness I had in my life—and I hope the world keeps going toward freedom. And I hope that people everywhere can learn to live together in peace. As my Pappa used to say. . . “We ain’t what we should be, we ain’t what we gonna be, but at least we ain’t what we was.

@Pachyderm_In_The_Room I don’t really think that particular quote is the source, because I don’t remember it containing slang. You say that you have heard several versions, can you name some of the other versions?

@PhiNotPi, yes, I know it’s not the source. I was only referencing a nice variation of it.