Happy Black History Month 2023: Best Poems, Wishes & Quotes

Happy Black History Month 2023: Theme, Poems, Wishes & Quotes- Today 1 February is Black History Month and to get ready, we rounded up 120 Inspiring Black History Month Quotes from civil rights icons including Martin Luther King Jr. Frederick Douglass, and W.E.B. Du Bois. These powerful public figures have left a mark on our country with their insightful words, historic speeches, and more. The month honors African American people’s rich range of experiences, struggles, and achievements throughout history and into the modern Black History Month Day 2023.

This year’s theme, “The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity,” explores how the black family has been “reverenced, stereotyped, and vilified from the days of slavery to our own time…”

The theme encompasses the individual black family and encourages “discussions on the nature and impact of parenting, childhood, marriage, gender norms, sexuality, and incarceration,” according to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), the organization that founded Happy Black History Month 2023.

Happy Black History Month 2023 Quotes:

• “Freedom is never given; it is won…”
  ~A. Philip Randolph, a civil rights activist
• “The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression…”
  ~W.E.B. Du Bois
• “Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated…”
  ~Coretta Scott King
• “Whatever we believe about ourselves and our ability comes true for us…”
  ~Susan L. Taylor, journalist
• “The time is always right to do what is right…”
  ~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• “Have a vision. Be demanding…”
  ~Colin Powell
• “The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind…” ~Maya Angelou
• “Truth is powerful and it prevails.” —Sojourner Truth
• “If there is no struggle, there is no progress…”
  ~Frederick Douglass

Black Excellence Quotes:

• “I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying…” ~Michael Jordan
• “Hold on to your dreams of a better life and stay committed to striving to realize it…” ~Earl G. Graves, Sr.
• ”I swear to the Lord I still can’t see why democracy means everybody but me..” ~Langston Hughes
• “Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better…” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
• “I knew then and I know now when it comes to justice, there is no easy way to get it…” ~Claudette Colvin
• “Diversity is not about how we differ. Diversity is about embracing one another’s uniqueness…” ~Ola Joseph

Black Quotes

•  “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair…” ~Shirley Chisholm
• “If you judge people, you have no time to love them…” ~Mother Teresa
• “The soul that is within me no man can degrade…” ~Frederick Douglass
• “Have a vision of excellence, a dream of success, and work like hell.” ~Dr. Samuel DuBois Cook
• “Today we know with certainty that segregation is dead.  The only question remaining is how costly will be the funeral…” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
• “I had no idea that history was being made.  I was just tired of giving up.” ~Rosa Parks
• “I am lucky that whatever fear I have inside me, my desire to win is always stronger…” ~Serena Williams
• “Racism isn’t born, folks, it’s taught.  I have a two-year-old son. Do you know what he hates?  Naps! End of list…” ~Dennis Leary

History Month Quotes:

• “Don’t agonize, organize…” ~Florynce Kennedy
• “Stretch your mind and fly…” ~Whitney M. Young Jr
• “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better…” —Maya Angelou
• “We all require and want respect, man or woman, black or white. It’s our basic human right…” ~Aretha Franklin
• “The thing about black history is that the truth is so much more complex than anything you could make up…” ~Henry Louis Gates
• “There are still many causes worth sacrificing for, so much history yet to be made…” ~Michelle Obama
• “Don’t let anything stop you. There will be times when you’ll be disappointed, but you can’t stop…” ~Sadie T. M. Alexander
• “Life has two rules: Number 1, never quit! Number 2, always remember rule number one…” ~Duke Ellington
• “Be as you are and hope that it’s right...” ~Dizzy Gillespie
• “If you don’t have confidence, you’ll always find a way not to win…” ~Carl Lewis

Upcoming Black History Month 2023: