African American History Month Quotes

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

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.

You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man.

Hate is too great a burden to bear.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.

Racism is not an excuse to not do the best you can.

Every great dream begins with a dreamer.

Where there is no vision, there is no hope.

The potential for greatness lives within us all.

I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise. I rise. I rise.

Knowing what must be done does away with fear.