African American Quotes - Page 35

• And thus goes segregation which is the most far-reaching development in the history of the Negro since the enslavement of the race.

  Carter G. Woodson

  Race, History, Development

  Carter G. Woodson (2006). “The Mis-Education of the Negro”, p.102, Book Tree

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• What we forget is that African Americans made the largest contribution to America, economically, before the Civil War of any sector of society. I read that the railroads were worth about $2 billion, but slavery was a $3 billion asset.

  Andrew Young

  War, America, Slavery

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• I think there's no question that Michael Jackson was the foremost entertainer of his generation; perhaps of all time, arguably, taking the skills of a Sammy Davis, Jr., bringing together the street dance of African American urban culture, joining them to the politics of dance, of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly on that sphere alone.

  Michael Eric Dyson

  Thinking, Skills, Together

  Interview with Tavis Smiley, www.pbs.org. June 30, 2009.

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• There's no question that O.J. Simpson had been a substitute white man in America. He had gained honorary white status. He was not viewed by many white Americans as black. He was not seen as the African American athlete who was rebellious: Jim Brown, Muhammad Ali, Hank Aaron... He was accepted in golf clubs that were very tony.

  Michael Eric Dyson

  Athlete, Golf, Men

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• The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife, - this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost... He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American.

  W. E. B. Du Bois

  Men, Self, Wish

  W. E. B. Du Bois (2014). “The Souls of Black Folk: The Oxford W. E. B. Du Bois”, p.28, Oxford University Press

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• You can turn away the Mexicans, the African-Americans, the teenagers and other suspect groups, but there's no fence high enough to keep out the repo man.

  Barbara Ehrenreich

  Teenager, Men, Groups

  Barbara Ehrenreich (2008). “Going to Extremes: Notes from a Divided Nation”, Granta Books (UK)

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• My friend was about to introduce me when she looked at me and smiled and said, "Whose little boy are you?"

  James A. Baldwin

  Boys, Littles, Little Boys

  "Letter from a Region in My Mind" by James A. Baldwin, www.newyorker.com. November 17, 1962.

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• To return to love, to get the love we always wanted but never had, to have the love we want but are not prepared to give, we seek romantic relationships. We believe these relationships, more than any other, will rescue and redeem us. True love does have the power to redeem but only if we are ready for redemption. Love saves us only if we want to be saved.

  Bell Hooks

  Love, Believe, Giving

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• Every time a crime was committed by a Muslim, that person's faith was mentioned, regardless of its relevance. When a crime is committed by a Christian, do they mention his religion? ... When a crime is committed by a black man, it's mentioned in the first breath: 'An African American man was arrested today...' But what about German Americans? Anglo Americans? A white man robs a convenience store and do we hear he's of Scottish descent? In no other instance is the ancestry mentioned.

  Dave Eggers

  Christian, Men, White Man

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• I knew that I lived in a country in which the aspirations of black people were limited, marked-off. Yet I felt that I had to go somewhere and do something to redeem my being alive.

  Richard Wright

  Country, People, Black

  Richard Wright (1998). “Black Boy”, Turtleback

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• Although there are those who wish to ban my books because I have used language that is painful, I have chosen to use the language that was spoken during the period, for I refuse to whitewash history. The language was painful and life was painful for many African Americans, including my family. I remember the pain.

  Mildred D. Taylor

  Pain, Book, Wish

  Mildred D. Taylor (2001). “The Land”, p.17, Penguin

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• But one of the things I have learned during the time I have spent in the United States is an old African American saying: Each one, teach one. I want to believe that I am here to teach one and, more, that there is one here who is meant to teach me. And if we each one teach one, we will make a difference.

  Marcus Samuelsson

  Believe, Differences, Making A Difference

  Marcus Samuelsson, Veronica Chambers (2012). “Yes, Chef: A Memoir”, p.248, Random House

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• I think education is power. I think that being able to communicate with people is power. One of my main goals on the planet is to encourage people to empower themselves.

  Oprah Winfrey

  Inspirational, Education, Knowledge

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• There is in this world no such force as the force of a person determined to rise. The human soul cannot be permanently chained.

  W. E. B. Du Bois

  Success, Peace, Determination

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• If we do with Latinos what we did with African-Americans, Republicans and conservatives will be doomed.

  Karl Rove

  Politics, Republican, Latino

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• There is a higher law than the law of government. That's the law of conscience.

  Stokely Carmichael

  Government, Law, Political

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• In order for us as poor and oppressed people to become part of a society that is meaningful, the system under which we now exist has to be radically changed... It means facing a system that does not lend its self to your needs and devising means by which you change that system.

  Ella Baker

  Meaningful, Self, Order

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• We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.

  John Hope Franklin

  Travel, Journey, Depth

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• We also learn that this country and the Western world have no monopoly of goodness and truth and scholarship, we begin to appreciate the ingredients that are indispensable to making a better world. In a life of learning that is, perhaps, the greatest lesson of all.

  John Hope Franklin

  Country, Truth, Life Lesson

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• If we have the courage and tenacity of our forebears, who stood firmly like a rock against the lash of slavery, we shall find a way to do for our day what they did for theirs.

  Mary McLeod Bethune

  Courage, Rocks, Slavery

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• Sometimes it's worse to win a fight than to lose.

  Billie Holiday

  Adversity, Fighting, Winning

  Billie Holiday, William Dufty (1956). “Lady sings the blues”

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• Michael Jackson National African American Art Examiner Series

  Aberjhani

  Art, Fame, Series

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• Words mean nothing. Action is the only thing. Doing. That's the only thing.

  Ernest Gaines

  Life, Motivational, Mean

  Ernest J. Gaines (2012). “Bloodline: Five Stories”, p.101, Vintage

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• You don't have to teach people how to be human. You have to teach them how to stop being inhuman.

  Eldridge Cleaver

  Teacher, People, Justice

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• Most African Americans, if given a chance, would have chosen to be 'just Americans' ever since the first of us was brought here to Jamestown colony in 1619, a year before the Mayflower landed. But that choice has never been left up to us.

  Clarence Page

  Years, Justice, Diversity

  Clarence Page (1997). “Showing My Color: Impolite Essays on Race and Identity”, Harper Perennial

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