Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise. I rise. I rise. – Maya Angelou, "Still I Rise," And Still I Rise
For Africa to me… is more than a glamorous fact. It is a historical truth. No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place. – Maya Angelou
We should emphasize not Negro History, but the Negro in history. What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hate, and religious prejudice. – Carter Woodson, 1926
This being Black History Month, I would like to ask people to celebrate the similarities and not focus on the differences between people of color and not of color. – Lynn Swann
The African-American experience is one of the most important threads in the American tapestry. – Bill Frist
The African race is a rubber ball. The harder you dash it to the ground, the higher it will rise. – African Proverb
You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man. – Frederick Douglass
I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality…. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word. – Martin Luther King,Jr.
Defining myself, as opposed to being defined by others, is one of the most difficult challenges I face. – Carol Moseley-Braun
Freedom is never given; it is won. – A. Philip Randolph
There is no Negro problem. The problem is whether the American people have loyalty enough, honor enough, patriotism enough, to live up to their own constitution. – Frederick Douglass
You can be up to your boobies in white satin, with gardenias in your hair and no sugar cane for miles, but you can still be working on a plantation. – Billie Holiday
Do not call for black power or green power. Call for brain power. – Barbara Jordan
Laundry is the only thing that should be separated by color. – Author Unknown
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. – Frederick Douglass
We are the wrong people of the wrong skin in the wrong continent and what in the hell is everybody being reasonable about? – June Jordan
We do not deride the fears of prospering white America. A nation of violence and private property has every reason to dread the violated and the deprived. – June Jordan
No race can prosper till it learns there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. – Booker T. Washington
In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress. – Booker T. Washington
The United States has been called the melting pot of the world. But it seems to me that the colored man either missed getting into the pot or he got melted down. – Thurgood Marshall
