29 Days of Wisdom for Black History Month 2020
There are many ways to celebrate Black History Month. This year I’m trying something new: I’m sharing words from wise people. Below you will find one piece of wisdom, for you to reflect on, each day in the month of February from a notable African-American. This collection of quotes features historical figures and more current people. These 29 individuals consist of directors, artists, politicians, ministers, scholars, and writers. These quotes have been beneficial to me, I hope they do the same for you. Happy Black History Month!
February 1, 2020: “Education is that key that opens the second door to our freedom.” -Euzhan Palcy, Black Shack Alley aka Sugar Cane Alley
February 2, 2020: “You can’t sit around waiting for somebody else to say who you are. You need to write it and paint it and do it.” -Faith Ringgold
February 3, 2020: “Before you tell me about your religion show it to me in how you treat other people.” -Senator Cory Booker
February 4, 2020: “You can’t let your failures define you-you have to let your failures teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently the next time.” -President Barack Obama
February 5, 2020: “Fools try to ignore facts, but wise men must face facts to remain wise.” -Malcolm X
February 6, 2020: “Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.” -Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give
February 7, 2020: “Learning is about the desire to be educated for a lifetime.” -Dr. Michael Eric Dyson
February 8, 2020: “You got love, and you got death. Death will find you…it’s up to you to find love.” -August Wilson, Two Trains Running
February 9, 2020: “People can only cheat you when they can’t beat you in a fair fight.” -Rev. Dr. William Barber II
February 10, 2020: “Let each day count for something. Read, study, think, write down your thoughts; keep a diary and write a little something in it everyday.” -Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray
February 11, 2020: “A good mentor learns as much from teaching as the apprentice does from learning.” -Kevin Hart, I Can’t Make This Up: Life Lessons
February 12, 2020: “History, as nearly no one seems to know, is not merely something to be read. And it does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past. On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do.” -James Baldwin
February 13, 2020: “You are never too good to lose.” -Beyoncé
February 14, 2020: “Ignorance breeds fear. If you don’t keep it in check then that fear will turn into hatred. Because we hate those things that frighten us. If you don’t keep hatred in check then it will breed destruction.” -Daryl Davis
February 15, 2020: “Pity may represent little more than the impersonal concern which prompts the mailing of a check, but true sympathy is the personal concern which demands the giving of one’s soul. -Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “On Being A Good Neighbor”
February 16, 2020: “You have worth simply because you are alive.” -Brittany Luse
February 17, 2020: “The best friend of a nation is he who most faithfully rebukes her for her sins- and he her worse enemy who under the specious…garb of patriotism seeks to excuse, palliate or defend them.” -Frederick Douglass
February 18, 2020: “If the basic right of one group can be denied, all groups become vulnerable.” -Coretta Scott King, Coretta: My Life, My Love, My Legacy
February 19, 2020: “There is power in love.” -Bishop Michael Curry
February 20, 2020: “You must never, ever hate. The way of love is a better way. The way of peace is a better way.” -Rep. John Lewis
February 21, 2020: “There’s no sadder place to be in this world than a place where there’s no hope... You need to hold onto your hope. If you have hope, you have everything.” -Anthony Ray Hinton, The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row
February 22, 2020: “Courage is fear said with prayers.” -Viola Davis
February 23, 2020: “Don’t take a ‘No’ from someone who doesn’t have the power to give you a ‘Yes’ in the first place.”- Tituss Burgess
February 24, 2020: “It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow.” -Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk
February 25, 2020: “Instead of waiting for the bright sunshine, I have learned to rest in the shadow of hope…This is the shadow of hope. Knowing that we may never see the realization of our dreams, and yet still showing up…I work toward a world unseen, currently unimaginable.” -Austin Channing Brown, I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
February 26, 2020: “You know, one of the reasons the world will never be rid of tragedy is that it keeps half of us employed and the other half entertained, and as sad as we feel when things are going wrong, can you even imagine, my Lord, what it would be like if we had nothing to fear or complain about, no animals to rescue, no days to commemorate, no stories to tell for a little sympathy on a night we could use some attention, no one to hold in their time of need after waiting forever to hold them?” -Casey Gerald, There Will Be No Miracles Here: A Memoir
February 27, 2020: “History and Scripture teaches us that there can be no reconciliation without repentance. There can be no repentance without confession. And there can be no confession without truth.” -Jemar Tisby, The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism
February 28, 2020: “If you’re not humble, life will visit humbleness upon you.” -Mike Tyson
February 29, 2020: “Becoming is never giving up on the idea that there’s more growing to be done.” -First Lady Michelle Obama, Becoming
