African Americans had to suffer and endure a lot of struggles and fight many battles before they regained their freedom. Even after all this time, they are still fighting numerous battles to achieve equal treatment from the world. Black women, in particular, had to face an even longer and tougher battle to gain respect and recognition. Throughout the history of racist oppression, there have been black women leaders who fought hard and helped others rise above unjust treatment. These quotes by Black Women encapsulate the struggles they have faced, the achievements they have made, and the dreams they continue to nurture.
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In this article, we delve into the wisdom and eloquence of black women, celebrating their resilience, strength, and unwavering spirit through some of their most remarkable quotes.
1. Love is pure and includes many other virtues.
“Love is a combination of care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect, and trust.”- Bell Hooks
2. Nothing is above or greater than humanity.
“We take our stand on the solidarity of humanity, the oneness of life, and the unnaturalness and injustice of all special favouritism, whether of sex, race, country, or condition.” – Anna Julia Cooper
3. We flourish only in a society where there is equality and harmony.
“If it is not a fit place for women, it is unfit for men to be there.” – Sojourner Truth
4. Truth always leads us to the right path.
“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” – Ida B. Wells
5. Battles, violence, and wars break families and bring endless pain- they are not worth fighting.
“Ye may not know how desolate, Are bosoms rudely forced to part,
And how a dull and heavy weight, Will press the life drops from the heart.” – Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
6. Diversity is an advantage when everyone is given an equal chance.
“True community is based upon equality, mutuality, and reciprocity. It affirms the richness of individual diversity as well as the common human ties that bind us together.”- Pauli Murray
7. Only we can bring the change we want to see in the world.
“If the time is not ripe, we have to ripen the time.”- Dorothy Height
8. Women’s voices, long oppressed, now resound with urgency and strength, carrying powerful messages
“No black woman writer in this culture can write ‘too much.’ Indeed, no woman writer can write ‘too much’ … No woman has ever written enough.” – Bell Hooks
9. Violence can never suppress any voice that demands freedom.
“It was a strange sight to see these black men rallying around the Stars and Stripes when white men were trampling them underfoot and riddling them with bullets.” – Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
10. Persistent efforts make the impossible possible.
“What is often called exceptional ability is nothing more than persistent endeavour.” – Pauli Murray
11. And she, in fact, is remembered for her contribution to the freedom struggle.
“I want to be remembered as someone who used herself and anything she could touch to work for justice and freedom…. I want to be remembered as one who tried.”- Dorothy Height
12. Simplicity makes love easy.
“Living simply makes loving simple.”- Bell Hooks
13. I am a woman and that’s enough for me. Period.
“If any female feels she needs anything beyond herself to legitimate and validate her existence, she is already giving away her power to be self-defining, her agency.” – Bell Hooks
14. What we sow is what we reap.
“We are all bound up together in one great bundle of humanity, and society cannot trample on the weakest and feeblest of its members without receiving the curse in its own soul.” – Francis Ellen Watkins Harper
15. If you want to fight injustice fight it through creativity than with violence.
“And while I could not always suppress the violent thoughts that raged inside me, I would nevertheless dedicate my life to seeking alternatives to physical violence, and would wrestle continually with the problem of transforming psychic violence into creative energy.” – Pauli Murray
16. Violence brings only death and destruction and no one wins except death.
“Ye who have laid your love to rest, And wept above their lifeless clay,
Know not the anguish of that breast, Whose lov’d are rudely torn away.” – Francis Ellen Watkins Harper
17. Indeed, the pen is mightier than a sword!
“One person plus one typewriter constitutes a movement.” – Pauli Murray
18. You will face many obstacles but facing them is the only option to reach your goals.
“Greatness is not measured by what a man or woman accomplishes, but by the opposition he or she has overcome to reach his goals.” – Dorothy Height
19. Sometimes you need to lose smaller battles to win the bigger ones.
“In not a single one of these little campaigns was I victorious. In other words, in each case, I personally failed, but I have lived to see the thesis upon which I was operating vindicated. And what I very often say is that I’ve lived to see my lost causes found.”- Pauli Murray
20. Society as a whole can flourish when everyone is given equal opportunity to work for the upliftment of humanity and the world.
“We have to improve life, not just for those who have the most skills and those who know how to manipulate the system. But also for and with those who often have so much to give but never get the opportunity.”- Dorothy Height
21. True love is often tested.
“Intense love is often akin to intense suffering.”- Francis Ellen Watkins Harper
22. Loving yourself is the key to confidence.
“It was when I realized I needed to stop trying to be somebody else and be myself, I actually started to own, accept and love what I had.”- Tracee Ellis Ross
They all were great leaders who showed us that if there is a will there is a way! Would these 20 best quotes by Black Women inspire you? Do tell us in the comments!