"Have a vision. Be demanding." ~ Colin Powell
You are not judged by the heights you have risen, but the depth you have climbed. ~ Frederick Douglass, Seeds of Revolution
Water from the white fountain didn’t taste any better than from the black fountain. ~ B. B. King, Esquire, 1/06
The white man’s happiness cannot be purchased by the black man’s misery. ~ Frederick Douglass
When you learn, teach. When you get, give. ~ Maya Angelou
For nobler themes, demand a nobler strain, And purer language on the ethereal plain. ~ Phillis Wheatley
Our strength is that with the total society saying to us, "No, No, No, No," we continue to move toward our goal. ~ Ralph Ellison
The mind does not take its complexion from the skin. ~ Frederick Douglass
People don't pay much attention to you when you are second best. I wanted to see what it felt like to be number one. ~ Florence Griffith Joyner
What's the best thing about being queen? Just being the queen, that's all... Being the Queen of Soul is a theatrical title. But at home, I'm the queen of my house, so, hey, I'm a domestic goddess. ~ Aretha Franklin
All the courage and competitiveness of Jackie Robinson affects me to this day. If I patterned my life after anyone it was him, not because he was the first black baseball player in the majors but because he was a hero. ~ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
It is a dangerous thing to ask why someone else has been given more. It is humbling—and indeed healthy—to ask why you have been given so much. ~ Condoleezza Rice
After more than 300 years and much difficult history, we hew to the old racist rule: Part-black is all black. Fifty percent equals a hundred. There's no in-between. ~ Marie Arana, Washington Post, 11/30/08
Black people make the best singers. They’re very musical and rhythmic by nature. It’s a big part of their culture. ~ Tom Jones
Innate in all life and all growth is tension. Only in death is there an absence of tension. To cure injustices, you must expose them before the light of human conscience and the bar of public opinion, regardless of whatever tensions that exposure generates. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
