Black History Inspirational Quotes

Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.

Langston Hughes

Love, Inspirational, Change

"Dreams" l. 1 (1929)

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I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.

Booker T. Washington

Inspirational, Life, Success

Booker T. Washington (1901). “An Autobiography: The Story of My Life and Work, the Original Brought Up-to-date with Over Half a Hundred Full Page Photo and Halftone Engravings and Drawings by Frank Beard”

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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 G. Woodson

Religious, Hate, Race

Carter G. Woodson (2008). “Negro Makers of History”, p.20, Wildside Press LLC

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It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.

Lou Holtz

Inspirational, Sports, Attitude

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Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Love, Inspirational, Life

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.67, Beacon Press

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We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.

Maya Angelou

Inspirational, Strength, Inspiring

Interview with Marianne Schnall, www.psychologytoday.com. February 17, 2009.

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Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

Barack Obama

Inspirational, Motivational, Change

Barack Obama (2008). “An American Story: The Speeches of Barack Obama : a Primer”, Independent Publishing Group

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The time is always right to do what is right.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Inspirational, Positive, Inspiring

"This Dallas Boy's MLK Jr. Speech Is Such A Sweet Message For Today's World" by Sarah Friedmann, www.bustle.com. January 2018.

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Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Inspirational, Motivational, Change

Atlanta Magazine, April 2008.

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Never be limited by other people's limited imaginations.

Mae Jemison

Inspiring, People, Imagination

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The potential for greatness lives within us all.

Wilma Rudolph

Inspirational Sports, Athlete, Greatness

"50 stunning Olympic moments No35: Wilma Rudolph's triple gold in 1960" by Rob Bagchi, www.theguardian.com. June 1, 2012.

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Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.

Coretta Scott King

Inspirational, Inspiring, Forgiveness

"Understanding Cultural Diversity in Today's Complex World". Book by Leo Parvis, p. 54, 2010.

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you must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.

Rosa Parks

Motivational, Change, Black History

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The thing about black history is that the truth is so much more complex than anything you could make up.

Henry Louis Gates

Inspirational, Black History, Truth Is

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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.

Love, Faith, Peace

"50 years after receiving Nobel Prize, do Martin Luther King's peace prophecies still resonate?", www.foxnews.com. October 12, 2014.

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Where there is no vision, there is no hope.

George Washington Carver

Inspirational, Leadership, Hope

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In this country American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate.

Toni Morrison

Inspirational, Country, Mean

The Guardian, January 29, 1992.

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For I am my mother's daughter, and the drums of Africa still beat in my heart.

Mary McLeod Bethune

Inspirational, Mother, Daughter

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No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.

Alice Walker

Friendship, Fake Friends, Memorable

Alice Walker (2013). “The Alice Walker Collection: Non-Fiction”, p.17, Hachette UK

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Whatever we believe about ourselves and our ability comes true for us.

Susan L. Taylor

Inspirational, Happiness, Success

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You really can change the world if you care enough.

Marian Wright Edelman

Inspirational, Change, Black History

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The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself - the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us - that's where it's at.

Jesse Owens

Inspirational, Motivational, Running

Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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Defining myself, as opposed to being defined by others, is one of the most difficult challenges I face.

Carol Moseley Braun

Inspiring, Being Yourself, Freedom

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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

Freedom, Men, Black History

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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

Inspirational, Truth, Men

1972 On Africa. In the New York Times,16 Apr.

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