Black History quotes
88 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside black history — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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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."
"I will not take 'but' for an answer. Negroes have been looking at democracy's 'but' too long."
"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."
"We may explain success mainly by one word and that word is WORK! WORK!! WORK!!! WORK!!!!"
"Many of us in Nashville accepted nonviolence as a way of life, a way of living, not simply as a technique or a tactic."
"If art doesn't make us better, then what on earth is it for."
"Just like you can buy grades of silk, you can buy grades of justice."
"Let us not become the evil that we deplore."
"There is such a thing as the freedom of exhaustion. Some people are so worn down by the yoke of oppression that they give up. [...] The oppressed must never allow the conscience of the oppressor to slumber. [...] To accept injustice or segregation passively is to say to the oppressor that his actions are morally right."
"We’ve gone through the names—Negro, African American, African, Black. For me that’s an indication of a people still trying to find their identity. Who determines what is black?"
"Miracles happen all the time. We're here, aren't we?"
"It is my hope that as we commemorate Black History Month in the future, we will continue to celebrate the many achievements and rich culture of African-Americans."
"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."
"The problem with hatred and violence is that they intensity the fears of the white majority, and leave them less ashamed of their prejudices toward Negroes."
"I almost never do anything for Black History Month, because I feel it's just another way to separate us."
"Today we know with certainty that segregation is dead. The only question remaining is how costly will be the funeral."
"When the Negro was completely an underdog, he needed white spokesmen. Liberals played their parts in this period exceedingly well.... But now that the Negro has rejected his role as an underdog, he has become more assertive in his search for identity and group solidarity; he wants to speak for himself."
"Black History Month is in the shortest month of the year, and the coldest-just in case we want to have a parade"
"Black History Month should be celebrated everyday. It's a month that's kind of sad to me, because I am reminded of the struggles that people before us had to go through for us to be able to live comfortably today."
"The Republican Party's history is rich and chock full of emancipation and black history."
