Although February is the shortest month of the year, we can celebrate Black History Month with as much power and fortitude as one can. If you are looking for daily quotes to fill the month for each day of the week, look no further.
Here are 20 quotes for Black History Month to complete your Black History lessons, plus a few more for weekly bios and quotes that will hopefully last all school year.
Daily Quotes for Black History Month
Day 1 –Barack Obama, “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,” from his 2008 Super Tuesday speech.
Day 2- John Lewis, “We have come too far together to ever turn back. So we must not be silent. We must stand up, speak up and speak out.”—U.S. Representative, from his 2012 Democratic National Convention speech.
Day 3 –Frederick Douglas, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”—Abolitionist Frederick Douglass, from his 1857 address on West India Emancipation.
Day 4 –Amanda Gorman, – “Every day, we write the future / Together, we sign it / Together, we declare it / We share it / For this truth marches on / Inside each of us.”- Believer’s Hymn for the Republic.
Day 5 – Edna Lewis, “Over the years since I left home, I have kept thinking about the people I grew up with and about our way of life. I realize how much the bond that held us had to do with food.” She was among the first African American women from the south to write a cookbook that did not hide the author’s true name, gender or race.
Day 6 –Harriet Tubman, “There are two things I’ve got a right to, and these are, Death or Liberty – one or the other I mean to have.”—Abolitionist, from Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman
Day 7 –Kamala Harris, “Even in dark times, we not only dream, we do. We not only see what has been, we see what can be.”—Vice President Kamala Harris, from her 2021 Inauguration speech.
Day 8 –Malcolm X – “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”
Day 9 – Langston Hughes, – “Hold fast to your dreams, for without them life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.” – A Dream Deferred
Day 10 Bessie Coleman, “I decided blacks should not have to experience the difficulties I had faced, so I decided to open a flying school and teach other black women to fly.” Coleman, the first licensed black pilot in the world who paved the way for fliers like the Tuskegee airmen, Blackbirds and Flying Hobos.
Day 11 –Oprah Winfrey, today we recognize Oprah Winfrey who is a talk show host, producer, actress, author, and philanthropist, “Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom.”
Day 12 –Kobe Bryant, “The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.”
Day 13 –Jackie Robinson, “I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me… All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.” Jackie Robinson (1919-1972) was the first African American baseball player to play Major League baseball in the modern area. He won the Rookie of the Year, was an All Star 6 times and played in 6 world series.
Day 14 –Martin Luther King Jr., “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. “
Day 15 –Billie Holliday, a pivotal artist from the Harlem Renaissance movement, “I didn’t get to play with dolls, I started working when I was six.”
Day 16 –Rosa Parks – “You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.” – Called “the mother of the civil rights movement,” Parks, a famous Civil Rights activist in Black history because she refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white person which resulted in a boycott of buses in Alabama.
Day 17 –Jesse Owens – “We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.” Owens, was the most successful athlete of the 1936 Games, was a track and field athlete who set a world record in the 1936 Olympics where he won 4 gold medals.
Day 18 –Michael Jordan, “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.”
Day 19 – Ruby Bridges – “Don’t follow the path. Go where there is no path and begin the trail.” The first African American child to attend the all-white public school.
Day 20 – W.E.B. Du Bois, “We have no right to sit silently by while the inevitable seeds are sown for a harvest of disaster to our children, black and white.”—Author, from The Souls of Black Folk
Short Weekly Black History Month Bios/Facts
Week 1
Bio 1 – Black history month occurs in February because that is the month that both Frederick Douglas and Abraham Lincoln were born. Frederick Douglas was born a slave and fought to end slavery. Abraham Lincoln was the president who ended slavery.
Bio 2- Today we honor Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005) who was the first African American elected to Congress. She is also the first black woman to run for a presidential nomination.
Bio 3- Alvin Ailey (1931-1989) who was a famous dancer and choreographer founded the American Dance Theater in New York.
Week 2
Bio 1- Benjamin O Davis 1880-1970 was the first Black General in the US Military. When he retired, President Harry Truman planned his public ceremony. He is now buried at Arlington Cemetery.
Bio 2- Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) is one of the most revered poets of the 20th century who won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1950.
Bio 3- (During Superbowl Week) Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts made history on February 12. The matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles was the first in Super Bowl history to feature two Black starting quarterbacks, as Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts lead their teams to on the biggest stage of all.
Week 3
Bio 1 – Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Christine Darden are four superstars in US history. These four women participated in some of NASA’s greatest successes including providing the math calculations for America’s first journey into space.
Bio 2- Guion (pronounced Gee-on) Bluford, (age 80) born in 1942 was the first black astronaut in space. He was a crew member on the space shuttle in 1983. He earned this spot over 8000 other applicants.
Bio 3- Today we recognize Simone Biles, a 25-year-old gymnast who was also a foster child and adoptee. She has won 7 Olympic medals which is the most won by an American gymnast. A favorite quote from Simone Biles is, “Confidence gives me the courage to soar.”
Week 4
Bio 1- Today we recognize George Crum, African American Chef and the inventor of the potato chip!
Bio 2- Today we recognize Beyonce, who may be the most famous singer in the world. She is also a songwriter and dancer. She has sold over 200 million records as a solo artist and 60 million as part of the group Destiny’s Child.
Bio 3- Finally, to end Black History Month, we want to recognize Stokely Carmichael, who was a civil rights activities in the 1960s, and who adopted the term, “Black Power.” From his book published in 1967, Carmichael said, “Black power is a call for Black people of this country to unite, to recognize their heritage, to build a sense of community.”
Final Thoughts
For more resources to celebrate Black History Month, check out this Black History resources article for classroom materials!
Check out the Women’s History Month Quotes too!