Langston Hughes
Poet, Novelist
"An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid to do what he might choose."
Black History quotes
Black History
88 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Frederick Douglass
Social Reformer, Writer
"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"
Billie Holiday
Singer
"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."
Chinua Achebe
Novelist, Poet
"The impatient idealist says: 'Give me a place to stand and I shall move the earth.' But such a place does not exist. We all have to stand on the earth itself and go with her at her pace."
Morgan Freeman
Actor, Narrator
"I don't want a Black History Month. Black history is American history."
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside black history — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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Black History quotes (page 1 of 5)
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"Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, . . . neither persons nor property will be safe."
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"I came back to Louisville after the Olympics with my shiny gold medal. Went into a luncheonette where black folks couldn't eat. Thought I'd put them on the spot. I sat down and asked for a meal. The Olympic champion wearing his gold medal. They said, "We don't serve niggers here." I said, "That's okay, I don't eat 'em." But they put me out in the street. So I went down to the river, the Ohio River, and threw my gold medal in it."
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"Won't it be wonderful when black history and native American history and Jewish history and all of U.S. history is taught from one book. Just U.S. history."
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"In a world where change is inevitable and continuous, the need to achieve that change without violence is essential for survival."
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"What is possible for me is possible for you."
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"All business is personal...Make your friends before you need them."
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"No time to marry, no time to settle down; I'm a young woman, and I ain't done runnin' around."
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"I still have my feet on the ground, I just wear better shoes."
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"I do not weep at the world I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife."
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"I am an invisible man. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids - and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me."
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"A woman needs someone she can trust, someone who laughs when she laughs, but who has different ideas so she can learn from and teach to them. She needs someone who will stand up with her and encourage her to be a woman-not just a female. See where you are, admit what you know, and what you need, and search for a sister friend."
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"You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man."
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"The thing about black history is that the truth is so much more complex than anything you could make up."
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"Never before has the seductive market way of life held such sway in nearly every sphere of American life. This marketing way of life promotes addictions to stimulation and obsessions with comfort and convenience ... centered primarily around bodily pleasures and status rankings. ... The common denominator is a rugged and ragged individualism and rapacious hedonism in quest of a perennial "high" in body and mind."
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"I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me."
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"[W]e are the heirs of a past of rope, fire, and murder. I for one am not ashamed of this past. My shame is for those who became so inhuman that they could inflict this torture upon us."
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"I will not take 'but' for an answer. Negroes have been looking at democracy's 'but' too long."
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"If the only time you think of me as a scientist is during Black History Month, then I must not be doing my job as a scientist."
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"We may explain success mainly by one word and that word is WORK! WORK!! WORK!!! WORK!!!!"
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"Many of us in Nashville accepted nonviolence as a way of life, a way of living, not simply as a technique or a tactic."
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