Black History Month Inspirational Quotes - Page 2

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

  Mary McLeod Bethune

  Inspirational, Mother, Daughter

  46 Copy quote

• If we accept and acquiesce in the face of discrimination, we accept the responsibility ourselves. We should, therefore, protest openly everything ... that smacks of discrimination or slander.

  Mary McLeod Bethune

  Peace, Responsibility, Racism

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• Excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism.

  Oprah Winfrey

  Success, Dream, Xenophobia

  Twitter post from Aug 14, 2011

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• 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

  Inspirational, Dream, Hope

  Maya Angelou (2011). “Phenomenal Woman: Four Poems Celebrating Women”, p.9, Random House

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• I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person.

  Harriet Tubman

  Hands, Black History, African American

  "Harriet, The Moses of Her People". Book by Sarah H. Bradford, 1886.

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• I was raised to believe that excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism. And that's how I operate my life.

  Oprah Winfrey

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  67 Copy quote

• I don't want a Black History Month. Black history is American history.

  Morgan Freeman

  Black History, Months, Black Racism

  "Roundtable: NSA, Freeman on Black History Month". "Roundtable" with Farai Chideya, www.npr.org. December 19, 2005.

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

  Susan L. Taylor

  Inspirational, Happiness, Success

  48 Copy quote

• Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.

  Zora Neale Hurston

  Love, Inspirational, Life

  239 Copy quote

• Black people have always been America's wilderness in search of a promised land.

  Cornel West

  Inspirational, America, Land

  Cornel West (2000). “Race Matters”, p.16, Beacon Press

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• When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.

  Audre Lorde

  Inspirational, Strength, Success

  "The Cancer Journals". Book by Audre Lorde, 1980.

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• The past is a ghost, the future a dream, and all we ever have is now.

  Bill Cosby

  Love, Inspirational, Life

  Bill Cosby (1987). “Time Flies”

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  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

  Hair, White, Black History

  Lady Sings the Blues ch. 11 (1956).

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

  Rosa Parks

  Motivational, Change, Black History

  798 Copy quote

• Do not call for black power or green power. Call for brain power.

  Barbara Jordan

  Inspirational, Freedom, Memorable

  112 Copy quote
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  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.

  Rosa Parks

  Inspirational, Positive, Inspiring

  Rosa Parks, Gregory J. Reed (1994). “Quiet Strength: The Faith, the Hope, and the Heart of a Woman who Changed a Nation”, Zondervan

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• I do not weep at the world I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.

  Zora Neale Hurston

  Oysters, Knives, Black History

  World Tomorrow "How It Feels to Be Colored Me" (1928)

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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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• My father was a slave and my people died to build this country and I am going to stay here and have a part of it just like you.

  Paul Robeson

  Inspirational, Country, Father

  Testimony before House Un-American Activities Committee, 12 June 1956

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• 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.

  Ida B. Wells

  Dog, Fighting, Black History

  Ida B. Wells (2013). “Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells”, p.62, University of Chicago Press

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• I am America. I am the part you won't recognize. But get used to me. Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me.

  Muhammad Ali

  Cocky, Greatness, Names

  Muhammad Ali (2016). “Muhammad Ali Unfiltered: Rare, Iconic, and Officially Authorized Photos of the Greatest”, p.88, Simon and Schuster

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• Never be limited by other people's limited imaginations.

  Mae Jemison

  Inspiring, People, Imagination

  264 Copy quote

• Surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves, those who work hard and play hard.

  Colin Powell

  Inspirational, Military, Work

  94 Copy quote

• I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.

  Ralph Ellison

  People, Black History, African American

  Invisible Man prologue (1952)

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• To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.

  W. E. B. Du Bois

  Men, Race, Land

  The Souls of Black Folk ch. 1 (1903)

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