African American Quotes
250 African American Quotes
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Today we are not being petty. We are trying to be big, because the task we have before us is a big one.
Barbara Jordan
We are a people in a quandary about the present. We are a people in search of our future.
Barbara Jordan
We are a people in search of a national community. We are a people trying not only to solve the problems of the present, unemployment, inflation, but we are attempting on a larger scale to fulfill the promise of America.
Barbara Jordan
Throughout our history, when people have looked for new ways to solve their problems and to uphold the principles of this nation, many times they have turned to political parties.
Barbara Jordan
Our concept of governing is derived from our view of people. It is a concept deeply rooted in a set of beliefs firmly etched in the national conscience of all of us.
Barbara Jordan
We believe in equality for all and privileges for none.
Barbara Jordan
We believe that the people are the source of all governmental power
Barbara Jordan
We believe that the government which represents the authority of all the people, not just one interest group, but all the people, has an obligation to actively – underscore actively - seek to remove those obstacles which would block individual achievement -- obstacles emanating from race, sex, economic condition. The government must remove them, seek to remove them.
Barbara Jordan
We do not reject our traditions, but we are willing to adapt to changing circumstances, when change we must. We are willing to suffer the discomfort of change in order to achieve a better future.
Barbara Jordan
We must provide the people with a vision of the future.
Barbara Jordan
Throw away your crutches and quit complaining because you are black. Don’t belch, choke, smoke and wish for something to go away. Because when you are finished belching, choking, smoking and wishing, society will still be here.
Barbara Jordan
What the people want is very simple. They want an America as good as its promise.
Barbara Jordan
[Coretta’s lifelong motto] To do my best and to make my best better.
Coretta Scott King
When you have challenges, you have to measure up to them.
Coretta Scott King
[As a student on receiving an envelope from a friend containing fifteen dollars who believed in her future when she was down to her last fifteen cents.] People and life are good.
Coretta Scott King
We cannot eradicate illiteracy and other social problems until we eradicate the scourges of militarism from the face of the earth.
Coretta Scott King
[When nearly seventy-five years old in 2002 at Bennett College] I would like to think that my years of working for peace, human rights, and a society free of racism, sexism, homophobia and all forms of bigotry have helped to make life a little better for your generation.
Coretta Scott King
[I called for all women] To unite and form a solid block of women power to fight the three great evils of racism, poverty and war.
Coretta Scott King
Be your best self.
Coretta Scott King
I am a Negro and I’m going to be a Negro the rest of my life. I just can’t let this kind of thing get me down.
Coretta Scott King
Even in this age of increasingly sophisticated electronic media, spending some quiet time with a book that inspires and uplifts the human spirit remains one of the most fulfilling of life’s pleasures.
Coretta Scott King
We are laying the foundation to train young leaders… in the tradition of Martin Luther King. When you have enough world leaders who have been exposed this way, it’ll make a difference.
Coretta Scott King
In these past eight years since my husband’s death not everything was negative. The roots of nonviolent protest had penetrated deeply. When the days of marching, sitting-in, and boycotting had passed, a decisive section of the Movement transformed itself. A new emphasis was given to electoral politics and coalition. Blacks moved into elective posts as mayors of major cities, as state and national legislators and as city councilmen. In May of 1975 there were 3,503 blacks holding elective office. In 1955 there were less than 100. More striking the black electorate became a force so that black concerns were felt in every discussion of legislation.
Coretta Scott King
New economic opportunities opened, especially in more prosperous periods. Blacks, who only yesterday were predominantly workers of the soil, laborers or house workers are now found in almost every field of gainful employment. In some areas some jobs are tokens, but in the past even tokens were denied. The years of struggle have yielded visible progress in the past eight years, and the martyrdom of Martin Luther King Jr has inspired steps toward a richer life for blacks.
Coretta Scott King
The experience positive in some many respects, is nevertheless partial and tentative, illustrating once more that the road to freedom is long and winding. An economic recession or depression wipes out far more black than white gains. The economic reserves of a black family or community are far less and the suffering is consequently more intense for blacks. However, even with the fulfilled promise, blacks have achieved a victory of the spirit that had for long eluded them. With the emergence of Martin Luther King [Jr] and the mass movement he inspired they learned that they could attain unity and hold it until they had won a victory. Beyond this they learned that even after mistakes, lost ground can be recaptured. These are lessons which suggest the future will have fewer defeats and more successes.
Coretta Scott King
If Martin Luther King [Jr] had lived on the, the fight ahead would be easier, but because he did live the fight will take place informed by experience. Ultimately, nonviolence equality, and justice must prevail in a land whose own fight for independence was guided by these principles.
Coretta Scott King
Martin seemed to have the need to get on with his destiny.
Coretta Scott King
To do something for humanity.
Coretta Scott King
[On building the multi-million dollar Martin Luther King Jr Center in 1980] What I want people to feel when they come here is a presence. I want them to feel that the closest thing to Martin [Luther King Jr] is his presence in this center. Actually, Martin [Luther King Jr] doesn’t need this, but the nation does.
Coretta Scott King
[On the Martin Luther King Jr Center not being a mere brick and mortar memorial to the curious tourist.] Our center is about dealing with meeting people’s basic human needs. We want to deal with the totality of the human condition, to transform the individual while we transform the system.
Coretta Scott King
This center [Martin Luther King Jr Center or The King Center] is designed to last 100, 200, maybe 300 years. It’s a monument to truth, justice and peace.
Coretta Scott King
There was never a question in our minds that we were not doing the most important thing we could be doing for ourselves and for a better society for our children, all children, to grow up in…
Coretta Scott King
I have a dream that one day in Alabama little black boys and black girls will join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
Martin Luther King Jr
Sooner or later, all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together.
Martin Luther King Jr
Nothing pains some people more than having to think.
Martin Luther King Jr
I have a dream today!
Martin Luther King Jr
When the history books are written, someone will say there lived black people who had the courage to stand up for their rights.
Martin Luther King Jr
We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.
Martin Luther King Jr
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
The Gandhian philosophy of nonviolence, is the only logical and moral approach to the solution of the race problem in the United States.
Martin Luther King Jr
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