Racial Uplift Quotes

Prevent the rise of a "messiah" who could unify, and electrify the militant black nationalist movement.

The mob spirit has grown with the increasing intelligence of the Afro-American.

In the hands of the Negro teacher rests the destiny of the race.

The Talented Tenth is alive and well today and visible in all arenas of prominence. 'That they may guide the mass away from the contamination and death of the worst, in their own and other races.' As they elevate themselves from the masses, they ensure their success and that of their fellow Talented Tenth friends.

Class concerns never lost their potency during the war. In 1864, as defeat loomed and the South’s leaders contemplated augmenting the army with slaves, some feared that the rebel nation would fall if deprived of its lowest layer. Black men would achieve a rise in status through military service, undermining general assumptions about the color-coded social hierarchy.

Black identity since the '60s has been a totalitarian identity. It's enforced. And if you don't subscribe to the party line, then you are a betrayer and a dissident, and you are treated as dissidents were treated in the Soviet Union.

Negroes are destined to be the most revolutionary class in America

Ali helped raise black people in this country out of mental slavery. The entire experience of being black changed for millions of people because of Ali.

Black people are achievers; we're survivors.

Thomas Sowell, among many others, has articulated the power of individual responsibility as an antidote to black poverty for over 40 years. Black thinkers as far back as Frederick Douglas and Booker T. Washington have done the same.

Over the generations, black leaders have ranged from noble souls to shameless charlatans.

The biggest accomplishment, in racial terms, for Barack Obama was being elected. He had to overcome his blackness to be elected. He climbed the Mt. Everest of American politics, becoming an historic first.

I like to think my work is furthering black culture by educating and empowering black people.

Up you mighty race. You can accomplish what you will! Build your future on these foundations: Freedom, Justice and Equality.

The hope, the hope that lives in the breast of the black American, is just so tremendous that it overwhelms me sometimes.

I stand on the black side of issues, philosophically, politically, socially, and for me to not check that box, I felt like, would be some sort of betrayal of not only who I am but also the community I affiliate with.

Merely by describing yourself as black you have started on a road towards emancipation, you have committed yourself to fight against all forces that seek to use your blackness as a stamp that marks you out as a subservient being.

Negro youths and moderates must be made to understand that if they succumb to revolutionary teaching, they will be dead revolutionaries.

People are more afraid of black unity than black rage.

I think it's important for black people in general to be aware of what's going on and do what you got to work around it. Not bow down to it publicly.

As for my support for Obama, remember that I was brought up in Washington. It was an all-black city when I was a kid. And I've always been very pro-African-American - or whatever phrase we now use.

The separate water foundations, park benches, bathrooms and restaurants of the Jim Crow South startled me. These experiences motivated my lifelong study of the status of African Americans and the sources of improvement in that status.

America faces a new race that has awakened.

I don't think being black has held me back at all. Being black makes you strong.

I have never seen any good resulting from educating the Negro.