In honor of Juneteenth this year, we’re sharing some memorable quotes from Black freedom fighters and history makers throughout the years. Let their words be a beacon, this Juneteenth and beyond.
“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” —Nelson Mandela
“In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.”—Thurgood Marshall
“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
“Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.” —Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Character is power.” —Booker T. Washington
“Dreams are lovely but they are just dreams. Fleeting, ephemeral, pretty. But dreams do not come true just because you dream them. It’s hard work that makes things happen. It’s hard work that creates change.” —Shonda Rhimes
“You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.” – Malcolm X
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” —Barack Obama
“The 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.” — Jesse Owens
“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” — Maya Angelou
“Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew.” — Cicely Tyson
“It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.” — Lena Horne
“Just don’t give up what you’re trying to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.” — Ella Fitzgerald
“Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.” — Oprah Winfrey
“There are still many causes worth sacrificing for, so much history yet to be made.” —Michelle Obama
“If you know whence you came, there is really no limit to where you can go.” —James Baldwin
“I need to see my own beauty and to continue to be reminded that I am enough, that I am worthy of love without effort, that I am beautiful, that the texture of my hair and that the shape of my curves, the size of my lips, the color of my skin, and the feelings that I have are all worthy and okay.” —Tracee Ellis Ross
“I had reasoned this out in my mind; there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty, or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other; for no man should take me alive; I should fight for my liberty as long as my strength lasted, and when the time came for me to go, the Lord would let them take me.” —Harriet Tubman
“As Black women, we’re always given these seemingly devastating experiences — experiences that could absolutely break us. But what the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls the butterfly. What we do as Black women is take the worst situations and create from that point.” —Viola Davis
“The soul that is within me no man can degrade.” —Frederick Douglass
