Several African leaders and advocates of pan-Africanism are known to have aired their thoughts on issues that cut across colonialism, slavery, human rights, and governance. Over time, the words of these great pro-Africans have been documented and are referred to as Black History Quotes.
Meanwhile, the late president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe was arguably one of the most enduring symbols of Africa’s struggle for liberation from colonial rule and has made so many pronouncements in that light. Some of his quotes include;
The white man is not indigenous to Africa. Africa is for Africans. Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans.
100 Black History Quotes From Famous African Leaders and Revolutionists
Quotes by Martin Luther King Jr
- “You can kill the dreamer, but you can’t kill the dream.”
- “There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life’s July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November.”
- “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.”
- “Be a bush if you can’t be a tree. If you can’t be a highway, just be a trail. If you can’t be a sun, be a star. For it isn’t by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.”
- “We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now because I’ve been to the mountaintop… I’ve looked over and I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.”
- “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.
- Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”
- “We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”
- “Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”
- “Hate is just as injurious to the hater as it is to the hated. Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Many of our inner conflicts are rooted in hate. This is why psychiatrists say, “Love or perish.” Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
Quotes by Barrack Obama
- “Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
- “The worst thing that colonialism did was to cloud our view of our past”
- “The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.”
- “A change is brought about because ordinary people do extraordinary things.”
- “We are the change we have been waiting for.”
- “In the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it”
- “I’m inspired by the people I meet in my travels–hearing their stories, seeing the hardships they overcome, their fundamental optimism and decency. I’m inspired by the love people have for their children. And I’m inspired by my own children, how full they make my heart. They make me want to work to make the world a little bit better. And they make me want to be a better man”
- “One voice can change a room, and if one voice can change a room, then it can change a city, and if it can change a city, it can change a state, and if it change a state, it can change a nation, and if it can change a nation, it can change the world. Your voice can change the world.”
- “Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it’s not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won’t. it’s whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere”
- “Nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change”
Quotes by Malcolm X
- “Don’t be in a hurry to condemn because he doesn’t do what you do or think”
- “I am not a racist. I am against every form of racism and segregation, every form of discrimination. I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color.”
- “I believe that there will ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those that do the oppressing. I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the systems of exploitation.” as you think or as fast. There was a time when you didn’t know what you know today.” “They put your mind right in a bag, and take it wherever they want.”
- “A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.”
- “We are nonviolent with people who are nonviolent with us.”
- “I for one believe that if you give people a thorough understanding of what confronts them and the basic causes that produce it, they’ll create their own program, and when the people create a program, you get action.”
- “If you’re not ready to die for it, put the word ‘freedom’ out of your vocabulary.”
- “You don’t have to be a man to fight for freedom. All you have to do is to be an intelligent human being.”
- “When a person places the proper value on freedom, there is nothing under the sun that he will not do to acquire that freedom. Whenever you hear a man saying he wants freedom, but in the next breath he is going to tell you what he won’t do to get it, or what he doesn’t believe in doing in order to get it, he doesn’t believe in freedom. A man who believes in freedom will do anything under the sun to acquire… or preserve his freedom.”
- “We declare our right on this earth to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary”
SEE ALSO: 100 Most Powerful African Quotes And Proverbs For Daily Use
Quotes by Oprah Winfrey
- “The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams”
- “Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.”
- “Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.”
- “Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.”
- “Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it.”
- “Turn your wounds into wisdom”
- “Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.”
- “Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.”
- “Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.”
- “Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.”
Quotes by Marcus Garvey
- “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”
- “If you haven’t confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life. With confidence, you have won even before you have started. ”
- “The pen is mightier than the sword, but the tongue is mightier than them both put together.”
- “The ends you serve that are selfish will take you no further than yourself but the ends you serve that are for all, in common, will take you into eternity.”
- “The pen is mightier than the sword, but the tongue is mightier than them both put together”
- “Liberate the minds of men and ultimately you will liberate the bodies of men.”
- “I regard the Klan, the Anglo-Saxon clubs and White American societies, as far as the Negro is concerned, as better friends of the race than all other groups of hypocritical whites put together.”
- “We are going to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery, for though others may free the body, none but ourselves can free the mind. Mind is our only ruler; sovereign.”
- “You at this time can only be destroyed by yourselves, from within and not from without. You have reached the point where the victory is to be won from within and can only be lost from within.”
- “Having had the wrong education as a start in his racial career, the Negro has become his own greatest enemy. Most of the trouble I have had in advancing the cause of the race has come from Negroes. Booker Washington aptly described the race in one of his lectures by stating that we were like crabs in a barrel, that none would allow the other to climb over, but on any such attempt all would continue to pull back into the barrel the one crab that would make the effort to climb out. Yet, those of us with vision cannot desert the race, leaving it to suffer and die.”
Quotes by Nelson Mandela
- “Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people”
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“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
- “Many people in this country have paid the price before me and many will pay the price after me”
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“A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of.”
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“Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.”
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“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
- “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again”
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“It is not our diversity which divides us; it is not our ethnicity, or religion or culture that divides us. Since we have achieved our freedom, there can only be one division amongst us: between those who cherish democracy and those who do not.”
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“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
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“A critical, independent and investigative press is the lifeblood of any democracy. The press must be free from state interference. It must have the economic strength to stand up to the blandishments of government officials. It must have sufficient independence from vested interests to be bold and inquiring without fear or favour. It must enjoy the protection of the constitution so that it can protect our rights as citizens.”
Quotes by Kofi Annan
- “The skills you need to fight the colonial power and the skills you need to gain independence are not necessarily the same you need to run a country.”
- “More than ever before in human history, we share a common destiny. We can master it only if we face it together. And that, my friends, is why we have the United Nations.”
- “To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there”
- “Often we mistake stability, in terms of security and economic activity, to mean a country is doing well. We forget the third and important pillar: rule of law and respect for human rights.”
- “In their greatest hour of need, the world failed the people of Rwanda.”
- “We must ensure that the global market is embedded in broadly shared values and practices that reflect global social needs, and that all the world’s people share the benefits of globalization.”
- “We need to think of the future and the planet we are ging to leave to our children and their children.”
- “I have always believed that on important issues, the leaders must lead. Where the leaders fail to lead, and people are really concerned about it, the people will take the lead and make the leaders follow.”
- “My own advice to people who would be in office for two or three terms is that they must accept democratic rotation: ideally, not put themselves up for re-election and allow the system to work.”
- “I am a stubborn optimist and will remain an optimist.”
Quotes by Kwame Nkruma
- “It is clear that we must find an African solution to our problems, and that this can only be found in African unity. Divided we are weak: united, Africa could become one of the greatest forces for good in the world.”
- “It is far better to be free to govern or misgovern yourself than to be governed by anybody else”
- “Those who would judge us merely by the heights we have achieved would do well to remember the depths from which we started.”
- “The forces that unite us are intrinsic and greater than the superimposed influences that keep us apart.”
- “Capitalism is a development by refinement from feudalism, just as feudalism is development by refinement from slavery . Capitalism is but the gentlemen’s method of slavery.”
- “Countrymen, the task ahead is great indeed, and heavy is the responsibility; and yet it is a noble and glorious challenge – a challenge which calls for the courage to dream, the courage to believe, the courage to dare, the courage to do, the courage to envision, the courage to fight, the courage to work, the courage to achieve – to achieve the highest excellencies and the fullest greatness of man. Dare we ask for more in life?”
- “I am not African because I was born in Africa but because Africa was born in me.”
- “As far as i am concerned, i am in the knowledge that death can never extinguish the torch which i have lit in Ghana and Africa. Long after i am dead and gone, the light will continue to burn and be borne aloft, giving light and guidance to all people.”
- “We have awakened. We will not sleep anymore. Today, from now on, there is a new African in the world!”
- “Africa is a paradox which illustrates and highlights neo-colonialism . Her earth is rich, yet the products that come from above and below the soil continue to enrich, not Africans predominantly, but groups and individuals who operate to Africa’s impoverishment.”
Quotes by Chinua Achebe
- “Nobody can teach me who I am. You can describe parts of me, but who I am – and what I need – is something I have to find out myself.”
- “The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”
- “A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to save them from starving. They all have food in their own homes. When we gather together in the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon. Every man can see it in his own compound. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so.”
- “We cannot trample upon the humanity of others without devaluing our own. The Igbo, always practical, put it concretely in their proverb Onye ji onye n’ani ji onwe ya: ‘He who will hold another down in the mud must stay in the mud to keep him down.'”
- “In dealing with a man who thinks you are a fool, it is good sometimes to remind him that you know what he knows but have chosen to appear foolish for the sake of peace.”
- “People say that if you find water rising up to your ankle, that’s the time to do something about it, not when it’s around your neck.”
- “Become familiar with your home, but know also about your neighbors. The young man who never went anywhere thinks his mother is the greatest cook.”
- “A man of worth never gets up to unsay what he said yesterday.”
- “It is praiseworthy to be brave and fearless, but sometimes it is better to be a coward. We often stand in the compound of a coward to point at the ruins where a brave man used to live.”
- “If you only hear one side of the story, you have no understanding at all.”
Quotes by Robert Mugabe
- “So, Blair keep your England, and let me keep my Zimbabwe”
- “The white man is not indigenous to Africa. Africa is for Africans. Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans.”
- “We don’t mind having sanctions banning us from Europe. We are not Europeans.”
- “We have this American president, Obama, born of an African father, who is saying we will not give you aid if you don’t embrace homosexuality. We ask, was he born out of homosexuality? We need continuity in our race, and that comes from the woman, and no to homosexuality.”
- “We have this American president, Obama, born of an African father, who is saying we will not give you aid if you don’t embrace homosexuality. We ask, was he born out of homosexuality? We need continuity in our race, and that comes from the woman, and no to homosexuality.”
- “If the choice were made, one for us to lose our sovereignty and become a member of the Commonwealth or remain with our sovereignty and lose the membership of the Commonwealth, I would say let the Commonwealth go.”
- “We are no longer going to ask for the land, but we are going to take it without negotiating.
- “Zimbabwe will never be a colony again”
- “We pride ourselves as being top, really, on the African ladder… We feel that we have actually been advancing rather than going backwards.”
- “Was it not enough punishment and suffering in history that we were uprooted and made helpless slaves not only in new colonial outposts but also domestically.”
