During the month of February(Black History Month), I have been sharing Black History Facts on our Facebook Page. And, I was amazed at how much I didn’t know, almost every person that I shared, I either didn’t know about before, or knew nothing of the scope of their contribution to society.
The whole experience left me in awe of the “greatness from whence we came”. The ability to overcome and conquer the circumstances under which we were forced to live and the injustices that we had to endure created DIAMONDS. “When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure.” – Peter Marshall
Our contributions to this country are immeasurable and continuous. These quotes by many of the “GREATS”, give a glimpse into the struggle and those who fought to not be defined by it.
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If we accept and acquiesce in the face of discrimination, we accept the responsibility ourselves and allow those responsible to salve their conscience by believing that they have our acceptance and concurrence. We should, therefore, protest openly everything . . . that smacks of discrimination or slander. – Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955) “Certain Unalienable Rights”
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It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others. . . . One ever feels his twoness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warrings ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder. -W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) The Souls of Black Folk (1903)
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I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. . . . Even in the helter-skelter skirmish that is my life, I have seen that the world is to the strong regardless of a little pigmentation more or less. No, I do not weep at the world—I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife. – Zora Neale Hurston (1901-1960) “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” (1928)
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Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed. – Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) Up From Slavery (1901)
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I am both proud and humbled.