28 Days of Wisdom for Black History Month 2022
Below you will find one piece of wisdom for you to reflect on each day in the month of February from a notable person of African descent. This collection of quotes features historical and contemporary figures. These 28 individuals consist of activists, engineers, politicians, thespians, ministers, scholars, and writers. These quotes have been beneficial to me, I hope they do the same for you. Happy Black History Month!
This is the third annual list. You can read the first two here:
February 1, 2022: “Black History Month is not simply asking, ‘how can I remember and learn about Black people?’ It is all of us asking, ‘how can we love Black people by seeing them, hearing them, relishing in them, and creating a world where Black people feel loved, inspired, and protected?” -Danté Stewart, theologian and author of Shoutin’ in the Fire: An American Epistle (2021)
February 2, 2022: “Take a deep breath, Loosen your shoulders, Unclench your teeth, Drink some water, Try to eat something, Write down the good things in your life, Remember that you are loved and valued, Have a great day.” -Erica Baker, engineer and DEI advocate
February 3, 2022: “You don’t hate reading, you hate what you’ve been forced to read. There’s no such thing as a reluctant reader; there are unimpressed readers.” -Angie Thomas, award winning author of The Hate U Give (2017)
February 4, 2022: “For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it. ” -Amanda Gorman, poet and author of “The Hill We Climb” & Call Us What We Carry (2021)
February 5, 2022: “But Americans distort the past in other ways too. We see horrible people as exceptional, and their many accomplices as mere captives of their times. We tell ourselves we would contain such wickedness if it arose today, because now we know better. We’ve learned. In our illusory past, progress has come in decisive and irrevocable strokes.” -Kai Wright, “The Virginia Slave Codes”, from Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619–2019 edited by Ibram Kendi and Keisha Blain (2021)
February 6, 2022: “While some nations vow never to forget, our American battle has always been over what we allow ourselves to remember.” -Wesley Lowery, “The Stono Rebellion”, from Four Hundred Souls edited by Ibram Kendi and Keisha Blain (2021)
February 7, 2022: “The most marvelous, unbelievable thing about Black people in America is that they exist. Every imaginable monstrosity that evil can conjure has been inflicted on this population, yet they have not been extinguished. The hero remains. Still. And that is the most wondrous part of all.” -Michael Harriot, “Reconstruction”, from Four Hundred Souls edited by Ibram Kendi and Keisha Blain (2021)
February 8, 2022: “Never confuse position with power. Pharaoh had a position, but Moses had the power. Herod had a position, but John had the power. The Cross had a position, but Jesus had the power. Lincoln had a position, but Douglass had the power. Woodrow Wilson had a position, but Ida B. Wells had the power. George Wallace had a position, but Rosa Parks had the power. Lyndon Johnson had a position, but Martin Luther King had the power. We have the power. Don’t you ever forget.” -Rev. Otis Moss III, from The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song by Henry Louis Gates Jr. (2021)
February 9, 2022: “If you are bewildered and clinging tenaciously to some course you love, be patient. Work hard. Hold your dream tightly to you, and do everything you can to realize it within reason. Take a step that will lead you toward the realization of your dream, and then take another, and another, and another.” -Jesmyn Ward, Navigate Your Stars (2020)
February 10, 2022: “Black history is profoundly illuminating: It produces a bright light by which we can make an honest assessment of how well our actions align with the ideals that have led us to proclaim that ours is a special nation.” -Jonathan Holloway, President of Rutgers University
February 11, 2022: “Don’t let people control you, you control the situation. Change obstacles into challenges. You might have to step back and go a different direction, but you can achieve.” -Raye Montague, Naval Engineer
February 12, 2022: “If you dwell on your misery, you’re not helping yourself or anyone else. So, if you think, ‘What can I do to keep this from happening again?’, that helps you to go forward, rather than spending your life pitying yourself.” -Dr. Olivia Hooker, psychologist and Tulsa Race Massacre Survivor, from The Victory of Greenwood by Carlos Moreno (2021). Feb. 12 is Dr. Hooker’s birthday.
February 13, 2022: “I don’t trust people who don’t love themselves and tell me ‘I love you’…There is an African saying which is: ‘Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt’.” -Maya Angelou, poet, activist, and author
February 14, 2022: “You can’t fix the past, can’t see the future, might as well live in the present, and have some faith.” -Leslie Jones, from her comedy special Time Machine (2020)
February 15, 2022: “There is a ministry of pain and the poet suggests indirectly that its ministry is the making of the souls of men…The pain of life may teach us to understand life and, in our understanding of life, to love life. To love life truly is to be whole in all one’s parts; and to be whole in all one’s parts is to be free and unafraid.” -Howard Thurman, “Pain Has a Ministry”, Meditations of the Heart (1953)
February 16, 2022: “Give people light and they will find a way.” -Ella Baker, civil rights activist
February 17, 2022: “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.” -Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, civil rights activist, lawyer, and priest
February 18, 2022: “One of the best things a teacher ever did for me was say “I don’t know the answer to that but I’ll do some research.” It modeled a more honest intellectual discourse. You don’t have to pretend like you know everything and you don’t always need to have or share an immediate opinion.” -Clint Smith, poet and author of How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America (2021)
February 19, 2022: “If you don’t know Black history, then you don’t know American history. If you don’t know American history, then you don’t know America. If you don’t know America, then you don’t know yourself.” -Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, historian and author of How to Be an Antiracist (2019)
February 20, 2022: “As a child I told my mother I wanted to do so many big things. While many others around me laughed at my “unrealistic” dreams, my mother said simply, ‘your gifts will make room for you’. She was so right. Maybe someone needs to hear this too. Be encouraged. Keep pushing.”-Dr. Keisha Blain, historian and author of Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America (2021)
February 21, 2022: “If you want to grow, find someone who has walked the walk. A mentor is a sounding board who gives you direction and guidance, and who asks you questions for you to work out on your own. We all need mentors. We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us.”-Rep. John Lewis, civil rights activist and politician, Carry On: Reflections for a New Generation (2021). Feb. 21 is Lewis’ birthday.
February 22, 2022: “I want people to understand that my work is not simply about lifting up my ego and lifting up my career, its about leaving something of worth that will help people and will help this country after I’m gone.” -Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, poet, English professor, and author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois (2021)
February 23, 2022: “Nations reel and stagger on their own way; they make hideous mistakes; they commit frightful wrongs; they do great and beautiful things. And shall we not best guide humanity by telling the truth about all this, so far as the truth is ascertainable?” -W. E. B. Du Bois, Black Reconstruction in America (1935). Feb. 23 is Du Bois’ birthday.
February 24, 2022: “You’re on the face of this Earth and there’s only so much you can do, but every so often a little light will shine. Well, doggone it, if it’s a light, let’s turn it up! Because it’s the only chance you’re going to get of being somebody. So hell, I say turn it and let it shine.” -George Monroe, Tulsa Race Massacre Survivor, The Victory of Greenwood by Carlos Moreno (2021)
February 25, 2022: “Joy was never meant to be boxed in. It was supposed to stretch out all over creation…” -Robert Jones Jr., The Prophets (2021)
February 26, 2022: “We have a long fight and this fight is not mine alone, but you are not free whether you are white or Black, until I am free.” -Fannie Lou Hamer, civil rights activist
February 27, 2022: “You have power over your life. When you stop believing in your own power, you lose the battle. This is why building your psychological fortitude is so important- it helps you hold on to your power during the difficult times.” -Dr. Rheeda Walker, psychologist and the author of The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health: Navigate an Unequal System, Learn Tools for Emotional Wellness, and Get the Help you Deserve (2020)
February 28, 2022: “Put away your race prejudice. Banish the idea that one class must rule over another. Recognize the fact that the rights of the humblest citizen are as worthy of protection as those of the highest, and your problem will be solved; and, whatever may be in store for it in the future, whether prosperity, or adversity; whether it shall have foes without, or foes within, whether there shall be peace, or war based upon the external principles of truth, justice, and humanity, and with no class having any cause of complaint or grievance, your Republic will stand and flourish forever.” -Frederick Douglass, “The Lessons of the Hour” (1894)
