African American Literature Quotes

“So she sat on the porch and watched the moon rise. Soon its amber fluid was drenching the earth, and quenching the thirst of the day.”
― Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

“She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees, the gold of the sun and the panting breath of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her. She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight.”
― Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

“..she began to stand around the gate and expect things. What things? She didn't know exactly. Her breath was gusty and short. She knew things that nobody ever told her. For instance, the words of the trees and the wind. .. She knew the world was a stallion rolling in the blue pasture of ether. She knew that God tore down the old world every evening and built a new one by sun-up. It was wonderful to see it take form with the sun and emerge from the gray dust of its making. ”
― Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

“I do not know if all cops are poets, but I know that all cops carry guns with triggers.”
― Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

“Honey, de white man is de ruler of everything as fur as Ah been able tuh find out. Maybe it's some place way off in de ocean where de black man is in power, but we don't know nothin' but what we see. ”
― Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

“You have a color of your own- Dark chocolate,
You have a culture your own- Hip pop,
You have a revival of your own- Harlem Renaissance,
You are the spot on a ladybug that adds its beauty,
You are the pupil of an eye,
You are the vastness of space,
You are the richness of soil,
You are the sweetness of dark chocolate,
You are the mystery in nature,
Blessed Black chocolate, God has made You to rule the Land, that made You a slave.”
― Luffina Lourduraj

“...they speak like melted butter and their children speak like footsteps on pavement...”
― Isabel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other Suns: the Epic Story of America's Great Migration

“You can handcuff my wrists, and Shackle my feet. You can bind me in chains, throw me in your deepest darkest dungeon...but you can't enslave my thinking...for it is free like the wind.”
― Jaye Swift

“Africans must change their mind and actions.
The keys to building your continent depends on your will-power, persistent effort and action towards self liberation.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“He was a glance from God.”
― Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

“He Said...

Your garden at dusk
Is the soul of love
Blurred in its beauty
And softly caressing;
I, gently daring
This sweetest confessing,
Say your garden at dusk
Is your soul, My Love.”
― Anne Spencer

“There is no achievement gap at birth.”
― Lisa Delpit, "Multiplication Is for White People": Raising Expectations for Other People's Children

“This book is dedicated to every woman who has ever felt self-conscious about her size. Outer beauty comes in all sizes, shapes, heights, ages, and colors. And inner beauty will always shine through, no matter what the packaging.”
― Raynetta Manees, Fantasy

“The trick set me up. It's that simple.”
― Shadez, The Daddy Game

“I wanted to hug them all. We belonged to each other somehow...But that sweet feeling hung on and I loved all of Harlem gently and didn't want to be Puerto Rican or anything else but my own rusty self.”
― Louise Meriwether, Daddy Was a Number Runner

“Everybody black knows how to react to a tragedy. Just bring out a wheelbarrow full of the Same Old Anger, dump it all over the Usual Frustration, and water it with Somebody Oughtas, all of which Bethella did. Then quietly set some globs of Genuine Awe in a circle around the mixture, but don’t call too much attention to that. Mention the Holy Spirit whenever possible.”
― James Hannaham, Delicious Foods

“There is
a heaviness in me
worth my weight in gold,
passed over for copper.”
― Olivia Barnes, Bramble

“like many families, everyone wandered around like children in a funhouse—they could hardly see one another around the corners, and what they could see was completely distorted.”
― James Hannaham, Delicious Foods

“Only we can set us free.”
― Angel Azizi, The Problem with the Blacks

“Put those rabid dogs down, Crimson Hunter, that’s an order from your Matriarch.”
― N.D. Jones, Crimson Hunter

“We love each other. That’s all we need to make it work.”

“So said every werewolf before his craving overtook him and his witch lover killed his naïve, stupid ass. We always love them. Our love for witches has never been an issue.”
― N.D. Jones, Crimson Hunter

“I've illuminated the blackness of my invisibility—and vice versa.”
― Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man