Black History Month Inspirational Quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr., Katherine Dunham, Franklin A. Thomas, Barbara Jordan, Ida B. Wells, James A. Baldwin and many others.
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.
I used to want the words ‘She tried’ on my tombstone. Now I want ‘She did it.’
Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.
Unconditional love will have the final word in reality.
One day our descendants will think it incredible that we paid so much attention to things like the amount of melanin in our skin or the shape of our eyes or our gender instead of the unique identities of each of us as complex human beings.
Do not call for black power or green power. Call for brain power.
I felt that one had better die fighting against injustice than to die like a dog or rat in a trap. I had already determined to sell my life as dearly as possible if attacked. I felt if I could take one lyncher with me, this would even up the score a little bit.
Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.
I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in ‘We, the people.’
I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.
American means white, and Africanist people struggle to make the term applicable to themselves with ethnicity and hyphen after hyphen after hyphen.
We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
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.
Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.
I have observed this in my experience of slavery, that whenever my condition was improved, instead of increasing my contentment; it only increased my desire to be free, and set me thinking of plans to gain my freedom.
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise. I rise. I rise.
I was raised to believe that excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism. And that’s how I operate my life.
