Quotes on Black Women

I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same thing as 'making a life'.

In diversity there is beauty and there is strength.

I most sincerely doubt if any other race of women could have brought its fineness up through so devilish a fire.

Work for black women has been an important and valued dimension of Afrocentric definitions of black motherhood.

I just like to have words that describe things correctly. Now to me, 'black feminist' does not do that. I need a word that is organic, that really comes out of the culture, that really expresses the spirit that we see in black women. And it's just... womanish.

The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the black woman.

For a person who grew up in the '30s and '40s in the segregated South, with so many doors closed without explanation to me, libraries and books said, 'Here I am, read me.' Over time I have learned I am at my best around books.

As far as I knew white women were never lonely, except in books. White men adored them, Black men desired them and Black women worked for them.

I'm not sure if resilience is ever achieved alone. Experience allows us to learn from example. But if we have someone who loves us-I don't mean who indulges us, but who loves us enough to be on our side-then it's easier to grow resilience, to grow belief in self, to grow self-esteem. And it's self-esteem that allows a person to stand up.

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

You don't need another person, place or thing to make you whole. God already did that. Your job is to know it.

I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.

My identity is very clear to me now, I am a black woman.

Therapists are less likely to perceive a black woman as sad; instead they see her as angry or anxious.

I see other black women imitate my style, which is no style at all, but just letting our hair be itself. They call it the Afro Look.

A black woman's body was never hers alone.

At this time I'd like to say a few words especially to my sisters: SISTERS. BLACK PEOPLE WILL NEVER BE FREE UNLESS BLACK WOMEN PARTICIPATE IN EVERY ASPECT OF OUR STRUGGLE, ON EVERY LEVEL OF OUR STRUGGLE.

I wanted to play roles which offered new ways of viewing black women and black people in general- and I have done that. And I have always, whether I needed to pay the rent or not, I've always turned down roles which I thought were stereotypical. And so when I look at my body of work in that respect, I am really happy. Because I feel my work does say something positive and that was what I always set out to do.

I respect myself and insist upon it from everybody. And because I do it, I then respect everybody, too.

In discussions around the hiring and firing of Black faculty at universities, the charge is frequently heard that Black women are more easily hired than are Black men.

We have to consciously study how to be tender with each other until it becomes a habit because what was native has been stolen from us, the love of Black women for each other.