Quotes on Black History

You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.

In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.

Herein lies the tragedy of the age: Not that men are poor, - all men know something of poverty. Not that men are wicked, - who is good? Not that men are ignorant, - what is truth? Nay, but that men know so little of men.

If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities.

We do as much, we eat as much, we want as much.

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

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

The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself - the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us - that's where it's at.

The burden of being black is that you have to be superior just to be equal. But the glory of it is that, once you achieve, you have achieved, indeed.

The story of the African-American people is the story of the settlement and growth of America itself, a universal tale that all people should experience.

In this country American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate.

I used to want the words 'She tried' on my tombstone. Now I want 'She did it.'

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

Where there is no vision, there is no hope.

What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? ... Or does it explode?

Racism is man's gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.