As long as the colored man look to white folks to put the crown on what he say . . . as long as he looks to white folks for approval . . . then he ain't never gonna find out who he is and what he's about. - August Wilson, Jr.Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed. - Booker T. WashingtonMy father was a slave and my people died to build this country, and I'm going to stay right here and have a part of it, just like you. And no fascist-minded people like you will drive me from it. Is that clear? - Paul Robeson, testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee, June 12, 1956

Freedom is never given; it is won. - A. Philip RandolphThe 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. - Jessie OwensDefining myself, as opposed to being defined by others, is one of the most difficult challenges I face. - Carol Moseley-Braun (1947-)

Anger, used, does not destroy. Hatred does. - Audre Lorde (1934-1992)

I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying. - Michael JordanThere will always be men struggling to change, and there will always be those who are controlled by the past. - Ernest J. Gaines (1933-)

I used to want the words "She tried" on my tombstone. Now I want "She did it." - Katherine Dunham

If we accept and acquiesce in the face of discrimination, we accept the responsibility ourselves and allow those responsible to salve their conscience by believing that they have our acceptance and concurrence. We should, therefore, protest openly everything . . . that smacks of discrimination or slander. - Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955)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. - Muhammad Ali(1942- )

Racism is not an excuse to not do the best you can. - Arthur Ashe (1943-1993) quoted in Sports Illustrated, July 1991

"Our people know that they are the worthy repositories of human culture, assets in the defense and perpetuity of which so large a number of our ancestors--forever immortal--gave their lives; our people did not kneel to the cultural mystification of the authorities in occupation." -- Sekou Toure

"We younger Negro artists now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased, we are glad. If they aren't, it doesn't matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too... If colored people are pleased, we are glad. If they are not, their displeasure doesn't matter either. We build our temples for tomorrow, as strong as we know how, and we stand on the top of the mountain, free within ourselves." -- Langston Hughes

"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I believe in pride of race and lineage and self; in pride of self so deep as to scorn injustice to other selves. Especially do I believe in the Negro Race: in the beauty of its genius, the sweetness of its soul, and its strength in that meekness which shall yet inherit this turbulent earth." -- W.E.B. Du Bois

"In search of my mother's garden, I found my own." -- Alice Walker

"How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heros and she-roes!" - Maya Angelou in Chris Orr, "Moms and Whoopi: Pioneers of Black Theater," Plexus, November 1983.

"For I am my mother's daughter, and the drums of Africa still beat in my heart. They will not let me rest while there is still a single Negro boy or girl without a chance to prove his worth." -- Mary McLeod Bethune

One who damages the character of another damages his own. -- Yoruba of Nigeria proverb

"I am where I am because of the bridges that I crossed. Sojourner Truth was a bridge. Harriet Tubman was a bridge. Ida B. Wells was a bridge. Madame C. J. Walker was a bridge. Fannie Lou Hamer was a bridge." -- Oprah Winfrey

"If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream." -- Martin Luther King, Jr., The Trumpet of Conscience

"For Africa to me... is more than a glamorous fact. It is a historical truth. No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place." -- Maya Angelou

"I won't 'have it made' until the most underprivileged Negro in Mississippi can live in equal dignity with anyone else in America." -- Jackie Robinson

"We ourselves have the power to end the terror and win for ourselves peace and security. We have the power of numbers, the power of organization, and the power of spirit." -- Paul Robeson

"No greater injury can be done to any youth than to let him feel that because he belongs to this or that race he will be advanced in life regardless of his own merits or efforts." -- Booker T. Washington

"Our creator is the same and never changes despite the names given Him by the people here and in all parts of the world."-- George Washington Carver

"God is a means of liberation, and not a means to control others."-- James Baldwin