Black History is American History. Every February, we spotlight key figures of Black America from The Middle Passage in 1619 to the present day, celebrating their achievements and triumphs. We also acknowledge the hardships and setbacks that come with being Black in the United States, from the founding of the colonies through 400 years of enslavement, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, civil rights activism, ongoing social justice movements, and more. Despite trials and obstacles, Black Americans—even before the establishment was willing to call them American—continued to persevere, producing literature and art, forming communities around a shared existence and culture, and fighting for the freedoms of all people in the United States and abroad, even when such liberties were not fully available to them.
Through centuries of slavery, inequality, segregation, discrimination, and battles for rights and recognition into today, Black Americans have done the work to make their lives, and the lives of all Americans, better in both everyday and monumental ways. Whether writers, poets, entertainers, activists, political leaders, scientists, entrepreneurs, or some combination thereof, Black Americans have frequently offered exactly the right words when they were needed most.
To celebrate Black Americans and their impact on America's history, culture, and promise, here are 175+ meaningful and uplifting quotes from Black writers, thought leaders, and trailblazers from the past and in the present:
On Truth, Justice, and Democracy
1. "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." — , "The Other America" from
2. "Justice may be slow and invisible, but it always renders its true verdict in the end." — ,
3. "If we are truly a great nation, the truth cannot destroy us." — ,
4. "I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole." — ,
5. "Truth does not change, only our awareness of it." — ,
6. "You don't have to think about doing the right thing. If you're for the right thing, then you do it without thinking." — ,
7. "All too often, when we see injustices, both great and small, we think, That's terrible, but we do nothing. We say nothing. We let other people fight their own battles. We remain silent because silence is easier... When we say nothing, when we do nothing, we are consenting to these trespasses against us." — ,
8. "The fact is that justice is indivisible; injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." — , "The Other America" from
9. "America loves the myth of a meritocracy more than anything else, because it lets us ignore the reality of the impact of bigotry." — ,
10. "And so the world watches America—the only great power in history made up of people from every corner of the planet, comprising every race and faith and cultural practice—to see if our experiment in democracy can work. To see if we can do what no other nation has ever done. To see if we can actually live up to the meaning of our creed." — ,
11. "What the people want is simple: they want an America as good as its promise." — ,
12. "We actually don't give a f**k about shiny, polished candidates. We care about justice." — ,
13. "I chose to speak truth. Even when it's uncomfortable. Even when it leaves people feeling uneasy. When you speak truth, people won't always walk away feeling good—and sometimes you won't feel so great about the reaction you receive. But at least all parties will walk away knowing it was an honest conversation." — ,
14. "Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children." — ,
15. "That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb if only we dare it, because .being American is more than a pride we inherit—It's the past we step into, and how we repair it." — ,
On Oppression and Freedom
16. "Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them." — ,
17. "We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." — ,
18. "All men are created equal, unless we decide you are not a man." — ,
19. "I have no mercy or compassion in me for a society that will crush people, and then penalize them for not being able to stand up under the weight." — ,
20. "To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships." — ,
21. "Repressive societies always seemed to understand the danger of 'wrong' ideas." — ,
22, "But for a society build on exploitation, there is no greater threat than having no one left to oppress." — ,
23. "Whoever debases others is debasing himself." — ,
24. "All of us—who might have probed space, or cured cancer, or built industries—were, instead, black victims of the white man's American social system." — ,
25. "Any community seriously concerned with its own freedom has to be concerned about other peoples’ freedom as well." — ,
26. "Now no one can fault the conqueror for writing history the way he sees it, and certainly not for digesting human events and discovering their patterns according to his point of view. But we can fault him for not owning up to what his point of view is." — ,
27. "I admit that the slave does sometimes sing, dance and appear to be merry. But what does this prove? It only proves to my mind, that though slavery is armed with a thousand stings, it is not able entirely to kill the elastic spirit of the bondman." — ,
28. "We were not actors but acted upon. We were not contributors, just recipients. White people enslaved us, and white people freed us. Black people could choose either to take advantage of that freedom or to squander it, as our depictions in the media seemed to suggest so many of us were doing." — ,
29. "Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat." — ,
30. "We must abolish the entitlement that deludes us into believing that we have the right to make assumptions about people's identities and project those assumptions onto their genders and bodies." — ,
31. "We say, hold on to the real facts of history as they are, but complete such knowledge by studying also the history of races and nations which have been purposely ignored." — ,
32. "The most marvelous, unbelievable thing about Black people in America is that they exist. Every imaginable monstrosity that evil can conjure has been inflicted on this population, yet they have not been extinguished." — ,
33. "Black people always found a way in the most miserable circumstances. If we didn't, we'd have been exterminated by the white man long ago." — ,
34. "Are you going to let someone else's view of who you should be, and what you should do, hold you back?" — ,
35. "It's not till she's outside that she realizes what she was looking for in there. What she's been looking for all these years. What she realizes now she no longer needs. Permission." — ,
36. "When I discover who I am, I’ll be free." — ,
On Fear, Courage, and Perseverance
37. "Most people run from what they’re afraid of. I run toward it. That doesn’t mean I think I’m bulletproof (I’ve learned the hard way that I’m not) or that I’m unaware of danger. I experience fear as much as the next man. But one of the greatest mistakes people can make is becoming comfortable with their fears." — ,
38. "To soar toward what's possible, you must leave behind what's comfortable." — ,
39. "There's nothing easy about finding your way through a world loaded with obstacles that others can't or don't see." — ,
40. "If I don't poke my head out of my shell and show people who I am, all anyone will ever think I am is my shell." — ,
41. "I knew my life would be a fight, and I realized this: I had it in me." — ,
42. "I learnt that the only way to get a thing done is to start to do it, then keep on doing it, and finally you’ll finish it, even if in the beginning you think you can’t do it at all." — ,
43. "When your dreams are bigger than the places you find yourself in, sometimes you need to seek out your own reminders that there is more. And there is always more waiting for you on the other side of fear." — ,
44. "No matter how often you fall from grace, what matters most is how many times you get up." — ,
45. "You don't have to become something you're not to be better than you were." — ,
46. "Courage does not always roar." — ,
47. "It's okay to be discouraged. It's natural. But in the discouragement, find your courage." — ,
48. "For me, becoming isn’t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn’t end." — ,
49. "Growth requires movement. And often, the only way forward is through an exit door." — ,
50. "No one ever told her how to get her heart to abandon a dream once the dreamer stops dreaming." — ,
51. "I am stronger than I am broken." — ,
52. "If you're too weak to handle failure and disappointment, then you're too weak to handle success, which will only end up damaging your life and happiness." — ,
53. "No man knows what he can do until he tries." — ,
54. "Here’s to us being afraid and doing it anyway." — ,
55. "That's all anybody can do right now. Live. Hold out. Survive. I don't know whether good times are coming back again. But I know that won't matter if we don't survive these times." — ,
56. "I did infer, however, that submitting to melancholy would undo the labors of those who had come before me, that I had an obligation to resist instead of giving in. I rose unsteadily to my feet, aware of my shackles, but determined to somehow overcome them." — ,
57. "When the world tells you to shrink, expand." — ,
58. "Question yourself, yes, but don't doubt yourself. There is a difference." — ,
59. "Be brave. Be amazing. Be worthy." — ,
60. "To those who’ve survived: Breathe. That’s it. Once more. Good. You’re good. Even if you’re not, you’re alive. That is a victory." — ,
On Reading, Writing, and Awakening
61. "The ability to read awoke inside of me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive." — ,
62. "Then it was that books began to happen to me, and I began to believe in nothing but books and the wonderful world in books—where if people suffered, they suffered in beautiful language, not in monosyllables as we did in Kansas." — ,
63. "Salvation is certainly among the reasons I read... Stories have given me a place in which to lose myself. They have allowed me to remember. They have allowed me to forget. They have allowed me to imagine different endings and better possible worlds." — ,
64. "So my advice to other young writers: Read widely. Study other writers. Be thoughtful, Then go out and do the work of changing the form, finding your own voice, and saying what you need to say. Be fearless. And care." — ,
65. "There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you." — ,
66. "With really good literature you’re allowed to take multiple journeys as your perspective shifts over time. It continues to resonate, as you find different ways of entering and engaging with the narrative." — ,
67. "Art is not mere entertainment or decoration, it has meaning, and we both want and need to fathom that meaning." — ,
68. "To be sensual, I think, is to respect and rejoice in the force of life, of life itself, and to be present in all that one does, from the effort of loving to the breaking of bread." — ,
69. "Discovering what you don’t want is just as important as finding out what you do." — ,
70. "My biggest discovery was that you can literally re-create your life." — ,
71. "Education among all kinds of men always has had, and always will have, an element of danger and revolution, of dissatisfaction and discontent. Nevertheless, men strive to know." — ,
72. "I started teaching myself to contort my rage into more valuable shapes; it doesn't disappear that way, just works for you instead of against you."— ,
73. "You hand us the fatback of a pig and we use it to make savory greens. You hand us a fledgling radio station and we turn it into a media empire ... We are alchemists. So our ability to transform our lived experience—even the ones plagued by trauma—is the very reason why we should internalize our acceptance and release ourselves from any obligation to be something other than who we are, individually and collectively." — ,
74. "Real education means to inspire people to live more abundantly, to learn to begin with life as they find it and make it better." — ,
75. "We put our kids to fifteen years of quick-cut advertising, passive television watching, and sadistic video games, and we expect to see emerge a new generation of calm, compassionate, and engaged human beings?" — ,
76. "Children don't carry the weight of history, so their capacity for heavy things might be greater. But few adults believe this, so we pass along only what we think they can bear. Children wonder later why we didn't tell them everything so they could avoid our mistakes." — ,
77. "More people's lives have been shaped by violence than we like to think. And more people's lives have been shaped by silence than we think." — ,
78. "Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own." — ,
79. "A writer's life and work are not a gift to mankind; they are its necessity." — ,
80. "Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning." — ,
On Empowerment, Pride, and Achievement
81. "I believe that each of us carries a bit of inner brightness, something entirely unique and individual, a flame that's worth protecting. When we are able to recognize our own light, we become empowered to use it. When we learn to foster what's unique in the people around us, we become better able to build compassionate communities and make meaningful change." — ,
82. "History shows that it does not matter who is in power or what revolutionary forces take over the government, those who have not learned to do for themselves and have to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they had in the beginning." — ,
83. "I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is right; and he can be brought to that only when he ceased to be a man." — ,
84. "Sometimes being a good ally is about opening the door for someone instead of insisting that your voice is the only one that matters." — ,
85. "For every door that’s been opened to me, I’ve tried to open my door to others. And here is what I have to say, finally: Let’s invite one another in." — ,
86. "I believe in living. I believe in birth. I believe in the sweat of love and in the fire of truth. And I believe that a lost ship, steered by tired, seasick sailors, can still be guided him to port." — ,
87. "I call something a miracle when an ordinary person achieves something extraordinary. We all have the potential to create miraculous changes." — ,
88. "If you know what you want, ask for it. And be specific—you just might get it." — ,
89. "If you don’t get out there and define yourself, you’ll be quickly and inaccurately defined by others." — ,
90. "Power doesn't have to show off. Power is confident, self-assuring, self-starting and self-stopping, self-warming and self-justifying. When you have it, you know it." — ,
91. "No woman has to be respectable to be valuable." — ,
92. "Pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can't take their eyes off you." — ,
93. "Either you seize what may turn out to be the only chance you have, or you decide you’re willing to live with the knowledge that the chance has passed you by." — ,
94. "Don't sell yourself short. You will meet people along the way who will be lining up to place limits on you. You don't need to beat them to the punch." — ,
95. "When life forces you to face yourself, what awaits in the mirror is a gift: vulnerability." — ,
96. "I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and incur my own abhorrence." — ,
97. "I am what I have become." — ,
98. "When children are small, our desires seem small, even if we want the sky. Anything we want seems to be only a matter of time and effort away. It’s too early to imagine what’s already holding you back." — ,
99. "We should seek out all the doors which still remain ajar, however slight the opening might be." — ,
100. "When you don't know your true value, you see the world through the lens of how you don't measure up." — ,
101. "Rising from the ashes of my earlier life, I learned that our thoughts, words, and deeds are unified through spiritual practice. They are made whole within us. And when our thoughts, words, and deeds are aligned with our most positive intentions, magic happens." — ,
102. "Your world is only as small as you make it." — ,
103. "The truth is, I’ve never been a big believer in destiny. I worry that it encourages resignation in the down-and-out and complacency among the powerful." — ,
104. "You could convince anyone you belonged somewhere if you acted like you did." — ,
105. "When you can’t find someone to follow, you have to find a way to lead by example." — ,
106. "My humanness doesn’t insulate me from racism or sexism. In fact, I think I can deal effectively with the world precisely because I am a black woman who is so comfortable in my black-womanness. I know what I can accomplish. And anything I have accomplished, I did so not in spite of being a black woman, but because I am a black woman." — ,
107. "Self-definition and self-determination is about the many varied decisions that we make to compose and journey toward ourselves, about the audacity and strength to proclaim, create, and evolve into who we know ourselves to be. It’s okay if your personal definition is in a constant state of flux as you navigate the world." — ,
108. "You were never just you, and you owed it to the people you cared about to remember that. Because the people you loved were part of your identity, too. Perhaps the biggest part." — ,
109. "You have to give yourself permission, even when you’re doing it." — ,
110. "It’s my devout conviction that if I’m not enabling and encouraging the underprivileged and the vulnerable, then I haven’t justified their confidence in me, and I haven’t done sufficient justice to their gifts." — ,
111. "In pursuing your highest ambitions, don’t let your personal safety diminish the safety of your stepsister. In wielding the power that is deservedly yours, don’t permit it to enslave your stepsisters. Let your might and your power emanate from that place in you that is nurturing and caring." — ,
112. "I’m grateful for all the breaks and honors and opportunities I’ve had, but I always believe I won’t have it made until the humblest black kid in the most remote backwoods of America has it made." — ,
113. "Never let anyone—any person or any force—dampen, dim or diminish your light." — ,
114. "One light feeds another. One strong family lends strength to more. One engaged community can ignite those around it. This is the power of the light we carry." — ,
115. "In order to rise from its own ashes, a Phoenix first must burn." — ,
On Race, Reckoning, and Revolution
116. "Race is the child of racism, not the father." — ,
117. "I feel that if we don't take seriously the ways in which racism is embedded in structures of institutions, if we assume that there must be an identifiable racist who is the perpetrator, then we won't ever succeed in eradicating racism." — ,
118. "Turning a blind eye to our history has not saved us from its consequences." — ,
119. "Yes, representation matters, but there is more to transformation than looking into a book the way you would look into a mirror." — ,
120. "The discussion of representation is one that has been repeated over and over again, and the solution has always been that it’s up to us to support, promote, and create the images that we want to see." — ,
121. "When Black women assert themselves, that somehow threatens people. This happens in retail situations, corporate offices, and school hallways. A Black woman can be minding her own business, and how she responds to provocation or even a random question will be used against her." — ,
122. "In the dark, you could never be too black. In the dark, everyone was the same color." — ,
123. "I don’t foresee, or want, a color-blind, race-neutral environment. The nineteenth century was the time for that. It’s too late now. Our race-inflected culture not only exists, it thrives. The question is whether it thrives as a virus or a bountiful harvest of possibilities." — ,
124. "Just walking through this life as a Black person, and actually surviving that, was and still is an ovation-worthy performance."— ,
125. "My parents gave me the pep talk when I started school, the same speech all black parents give their kids: You're gonna have to be bigger, badder, better, just to be considered equal. You're gonna have to do twice as much work and you're not going to get any credit for your accomplishments or for overcoming adversity. Most black people grow accustomed to the fact that we have to excel just to be seen as existing, and this is a lesson passed down from generation to generation." — ,
126. "It’s funny about 'passing.' We disapprove of it and at the same time condone it. It excites our contempt and yet we rather admire it. We shy away from it with an odd kind of revulsion, but we protect it." —,
127. "And if the word integration means anything, this is what it means: that we, with love, shall force our brothers to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and begin to change it. For this is your home, my friend, do not be driven from it; great men have done great things here, and will again, and we can make America what America must become." — ,
128. "The price of equality, or at least of the promise of an equal society, is vigilance against those who would make government the tool of hierarchy." — ,
129. "A social movement that only moves people is merely a revolt. A movement that changes both people and institutions is a revolution." — ,
130. "Social transformation is not measured in weeks or months, but in generation." — ,
131. "Revolution is about change, and the first place the change begins is in yourself." — ,
132. "I propose to take our countrymen’s claims of American exceptionalism seriously, which is to say I propose subjecting our country to an exceptional moral standard." — ,
133. "When we are creating a shared history, what we remember is just as revelatory as what we forget." — ,
134. "Knowing your generational story firms the ground upon which you stand. It makes your life, your struggles and triumphs, bigger than your lone existence. It connects you to a grand plotline." — ,
135. "I believe that telling our stories, first to ourselves and then to one another and the world, is a revolutionary act. It is an act that can be met with hostility, exclusion, and violence. It can also lead to love, understanding, transcendence, and community." — ,
136. "By now we know that the flower children, the yippies, the gay rights organizers, and the second-wave feminists were all inspired by the voices of the freedom movement. But the ripple is much bigger. In each successive generation, expression has pushed past existing boundaries, arguing that their insistence is more than a matter of style or taste, but rather that it is a matter of freedom." — ,
137. "Don’t let anybody, anybody convince you this is the way the world is and therefore must be. It must be the way it ought to be." — ,
138. "Could it be that we matter?" — ,
On Change, Hope, and Healing
139. "Change requires intent and effort. It really is that simple." — ,
140. "Dreams are lovely. But they are just dreams. Fleeting, ephemeral. Pretty. But dreams do not come true just because you dream them. It’s hard work that makes things happen. It’s hard work that creates change." — ,
141. "History has shown that one person's willingness to stand up for what is right can be the spark that ignites far-reaching change." — ,
142. "There is something radical and beautiful and deeply transformational in bearing witness to public accountability, accountability before a community gathered for the sake of wholeness." — ,
143. "Healing, as I see it, is not the absence of pain. Rather it is a gradual reduction in the ache. The lessening of that hurt eventually makes room for fond memories to surface." — ,
144. "Whenever you conceptualize social justice struggles, you will always defeat your own purposes if you cannot imagine the people around whom you are struggling as equal partners." — ,
145. "You can't be a part of the solution if you don't recognize how you are a part of the problem." — ,
146. "Resentment corrodes the veins of the person who carries it." — ,
147. "Hurt is worse than anger, you know. Anger dwells in the head, then fades. Hurt lingers in the soul." — ,
148. "It demands great spiritual resilience not to hate the hater whose foot is on your neck, and an even greater miracle of perception and charity not to teach your child to hate." — ,
149. "I came to love the men and women I worked with: the single mom living on a ravaged block who somehow got all four children through college; the Irish priest who threw open the church doors every evening so that kids had an option other than gangs; the laid-off steelworker who went back to school to become a social worker. Their stories of hardship and their modest victories confirmed for me again and again the basic decency of people... Through them, I resolved the lingering questions of my racial identity. For it turned out there was no single way to be Black; just trying to be a good man was enough." — ,
150. "I am American. That means something to me, some common ground with others of this soil, even as the country feels irredeemably racist and maybe not worth saving." — ,
151. "I believe my purpose is to bring joy to people, to make them laugh, and to share my story to help them. To show people that no matter what, they matter, and they can succeed. No matter how bad things go, no matter how dark your life is, there is a reason for it. You can find beauty in it, and you can get better. I know, because I’ve done it." — ,
152. "I don’t understand why people work so hard at pointing out our differences; we should be celebrating the things we have in common." — ,
153. "Human beings are more alike than different—damn sure more alike than we like to admit." — ,
154. "We seek harm to none and harmony for all." — ,
155. "At every moment, we always have a choice, even if it feels as if we don’t. Sometimes that choice may simply be to think a more positive thought." — ,
160. "I don't think we have any alternative other than remaining optimistic. Optimism is an absolute necessity, even if it's only optimism of the will." — ,
161. "My daily challenge to myself is to be part of the solution, to be a joyful warrior in the battle to come." — ,
162. "Devote a slice of your energies toward making the world suck less every week." — ,
163. "By honoring each other’s ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds, we become stronger and happier, brightening the cosmic masterpiece of artwork that is our world. Rather than emphasize differences, we should be looking for similarities. Our differences are ultimately superficial, and the best thing to do is celebrate them." — ,
164. "Ours is the struggle of a lifetime, or maybe even many lifetimes, and each one of us in every generation must do our part. And if we believe in the change we seek, then it is easy to commit to doing all we can, because the responsibility is ours alone to build a better society and a more peaceful world." — ,
165. "It may be a while before we find our footing again. The losses will reverberate for years to come. We will get shaken and shaken again. The world will remain both beautiful and broken. The uncertainties aren’t going away. But when equilibrium isn’t possible, we are challenged to evolve." — ,
166. "There are years that ask questions and years that answer." — ,
On Peace and Love
167. "Love is contraband in Hell, cause love is an acid that eats away bars." — ,
168. "Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. I use the word "love" here not merely in the personal sense but as a state of being, or a state of grace—not in the infantile American sense of being made happy but in the tough and universal sense of quest and daring and growth." — ,
169. "Black people love their children with a kind of obsession. You are all we have, and you come to us endangered." — ,
170. "The more I wonder, the more I love." — ,
171. "To be seen in this life, truly observed without judgment, is what it feels like to be loved." — ,
172. "Happiness comes from living as you need to, as you want to. As your inner voice tells you to. Happiness comes from being who you actually are instead of who you think you are supposed to be." — ,
173. "Living a joyful life, I’ve found, is not about trying to avoid the unavoidable. Joy comes from summoning a strong life force to overcome problems, from the smallest irritation to the biggest disaster." — ,
174. "Love is a choice we can make every day." — ,
175. "Sometimes the message of love, inclusion, and equality needs to be direct and clear." — ,
176. "We are creatures of love. God gave us a heart. A heart is designed to love. So our natural ability is to love. And part of loving ourselves and those around us is being willing to forgive and be forgiven." — ,
The Best Quotes from Black Authors, Activists, Entrepreneurs, and Artists to Celebrate Black History Month | Audible.com
