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45 Black History Month quotes to inspire and empower you

Let the powerful words of Rosa Parks, Desmond Tutu, Martin Luther King Jr. and other famous Black voices move you.
Photo Illustration of Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks
Tyler Essary / TODAY Illustration / Reg Lancaster / Don Cravens / Getty Images

February is Black History Month, and while the observance began as a history week back in February of 1926, by 1976, it was officially extended into the month-long recognition it is today.

To honor Black history is to honor American history.

"Black Americans have made a way not only for themselves but also have helped build a highway for millions of women, immigrants, other historically marginalized communities, and all Americans to more fully experience the benefits of our society," President Joe Biden wrote in the 2023 proclamation on National Black History Month.

To commemorate the occasion, we've collected a list of meaningful Black History Month quotes from Black icons, activists and famous figures like Martin Luther King Jr., Shirley Chisholm, Frederick Douglass and countless others who've galvanized generations with their words and actions.

While we can simply look around us to see the results of their contributions, it's important to reflect on their accomplishments and those of so many others in endeavors across the board.

In recognition of the occasion, share one of these empowering quotes by luminaries including Rosa Parks, Booker T. Washington, Desmond Tutu and more.

By passing them along, not only you will continue to bring recognition to their achievements, but also inspire those around you to continue the journey of learning.

Black History Month Quotes
  • “How many years has it taken people to realize that we are all brothers and sisters and human beings in the human race?” —Marsha P. Johnson, activist
  • "You do what you think is right and let the law catch up." — Thurgood Marshall, Supreme Court Justice
  • "You must place interest in principle above interest on principal." — Julian Bond, activist and American politician
  • "You are not and yet you are: your thoughts, your deeds, above all your dreams still live." — W.E.B. Du Bois, activist and sociologist
  • "Don't sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them." — Madam C.J. Walker, entrepreneur and philanthropist
Black History Month Quotes
  • "We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society." — Angela Davis, activist and philosopher
  • "Believe in yourself, learn, and never stop wanting to build a better world." — Mary McLeod Bethune, educator and philanthropist
  • "A life is not important except in the impact is has on other lives." — Jackie Robinson, American baseball player
  • "From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life." — Arthur Ashe, American tennis player
  • "Neither love nor terror makes one blind: indifference makes one blind." — James Baldwin, writer and activist
Black History Month Quotes
  • "The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any." — Alice Walker, author
  • "Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars, to change the world." — Harriet Tubman, activist and abolitionist
  • "For there is always light, if only we're brave enough to see it. If only we are brave enough to be it." — Amanda Gorman, poet and activist
  • “We have been too quiet for too long. There comes a time when you have to say something. You have to make a little noise. You have to move your feet. This is the time.” — John Lewis, politician and civil rights leader
Black History Month Quotes
  • "The truth is that there is nothing noble in being superior to somebody else. The only real nobility is in being superior to your former self." — Whitney M. Young Jr., activist and social worker
  • "Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated." — Coretta Scott King, civil rights leader
  • "If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair." — Shirley Chisholm, first Black woman elected to Congress
  • "Anyone who claims to be a leader must speak like a leader. That means speaking with integrity and truth." — Kamala Harris, first female vice president of the United States
  • "If there is no struggle, there is no progress." — Frederick Douglass, abolitionist
Black History Month Quotes
  • "The time is always right to do what is right." — Martin Luther King Jr., minister and civil rights activist
  • "Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong." — Ella Fitzgerald, American jazz singer
  • "He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life." — Muhammad Ali, professional boxer
  • "We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." — Barack Obama, 44th president of the United States
  • "I knew then and I know now, when it comes to justice, there is no easy way to get it." — Claudette Colvin, civil rights pioneer
Black History Month Quotes
  • "Character is power." — Booker T. Washington, educator and author
  • "I had no idea that history was being made. I was just tired of giving up." — Rosa Parks, civil rights activist
  • "I am lucky that whatever fear I have inside me, my desire to win is always stronger." — Serena Williams, professional tennis player
  • "Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own." — Michelle Obama, former first lady of the United States
  • "What's in front of you is a whole word of experiences beyond your own imagination. Put yourself, and your growth and development, first." — Phylicia Rashad, actor
Black History Month Quotes
  • "Use your skills, your knowledge, your instincts to serve the world — to go change the world in the way that only you can." — Robert F. Smith, investor
  • "If we want to get to the place where all lives matter, then we have to make sure that Black lives matter, too." — Alicia Garza, civil rights activist and co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement
  • "Whatever we believe about ourselves and our ability comes true for us." — Susan L. Taylor, journalist
  • "My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together." — Desmond Tutu, cleric and theologian
  • "In order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline and effort." — Jesse Owens, track and field athlete
Black History Month Quotes
  • "The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind." — Maya Angelou, writer and activist
  • "Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment." — Oprah Winfrey, talk show host, actor and producer
  • "The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression." — W.E.B. DuBois, scholar and civil rights activist
  • "You can’t lead the people if you don’t love the people. You can’t save the people if you don’t serve the people." — Cornel West, philosopher and activist
Black History Month Quotes
  • "The one thing I feel is lacking in Hollywood today is an understanding of the beauty, the power, the sexuality, the uniqueness, the humor of being a regular Black woman." — Viola Davis, actor
  • "We will all, at some point, encounter hurdles to gaining access and entry, moving up and conquering self-doubt; but on the other side is the capacity to own opportunity and tell our own story." — Stacey Abrams, Georgia politician and voting rights activist
  • "Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what’s more than enough." — Billie Holiday, singer
  • "The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them." — Ida B. Wells, journalist
Black History Month Quotes
  • "I realized that beauty was not a thing that I could acquire or consume, it was something I just had to be." — Lupita Nyong'o, actor
  • "When we’re talking about diversity, it’s not a box to check. It is a reality that should be deeply felt and held and valued by all of us." — Ava DuVernay, filmmaker
  • "I’m very proud to be Black, but Black is not all I am. That’s my cultural historical background, my genetic makeup, but it’s not all of who I am, nor is it the basis from which I answer every question." — Denzel Washington, actor