Quotes About African-American

I'm always talking about how representation is such an important thing - it's not just a request, it's a requirement - it needs to happen. So, to be a part of representation and to go down in the history books as the first African-American woman to win, and the second African-American to win the Royal Rumble is an honor.

African-Americans and black immigrants share a resilience and a determination for a better life.

Getting into the banjo and discovering that it was an African-American instrument, it totally turned on its head my idea of American music - and then, through that, American history.

The acceptance of the facts of African-American history and the African-American historian as a legitimate part of the academic community did not come easily. Slavery ended and left its false images of black people intact.

The reason why I began making quilts is because I wrote my autobiography in 1980 and couldn't get it published because I wanted to tell my story, and my story didn't appear to be appropriate for African-American women.

The African-American tradition, in the main, is very, very church-based, very, very Christian. It accepts, you know, certain narratives about the world. I didn't really have that present in my house.

I grew up in a house that was the traditional African-American home that was dominated by a matriarch, and that matriarch was my grandmother. She was tough. She was strong. She was powerful.

Perhaps we could do without tragedy in art - but what about comedy? Is it a coincidence that so many of the best American humorists have been Jewish and African-American?

We are carrying collectively a lot of trauma, especially those of us in the African-American community. And if we're not careful, it'll overtake us, and we'll self-destruct.

Electing the first African-American president was a tremendous accomplishment, but it hasn't erased racism.

'Strong Island' has been a labor of love and dedication on the part of so many people, that it's just an incredible recognition to be honored. And to be the first trans director - and, I believe, the first African-American trans director - to be nominated for an Academy Award is incredibly, incredibly special to me.

He was accompanied by his occasional 'security assistant,' a man called Prawney, who was tall, bald, and African-American. These characteristics were practically mandatory at the security firm that employed Prawney. Many of its celebrity clients were white, and white celebrities always wanted big, shiny, black muscle. It was a status thing.

As a historian of American and African-American religion, I know that the Trayvon Martin moment is just one moment in a history of racism in America that, in large part, has its underpinnings in Christianity and its history. Those of us who teach American Religion have a responsibility to tell all of the story, not just the nice touchy-feely parts.

Allowing the momentary hijacking of our sense of self by random acts of fear or hate—call it guerrilla racism—is bad for us. Literally. The high rates of hypertension, stroke, and heart disease among African-American males bear brutal witness to the problem. Do not volunteer yourself as a casualty. Let those with the illness, those who caricature and misrepresent you, be the ones consumed.

Stand-ups are always good to see on YouTube. There's a guy named Mike Head who lives in Cleveland. He's great. He's an African-American stand-up.

You look at 'Survivor's Remorse.' Or 'Blackish.' Or Issa Rae's brilliant, funny 'Insecure,' which started out on YouTube but is now on HBO. And you see multifaceted representations of the African-American experience. It's insanely exciting.

I started to think of 'Hidden Figures' as the first part of a mid-century African-American trilogy.

As Africans Americans we often think about the tragic stories associated with our lineage, but there are a lot of triumphs. Traveling helps you learn about other aspects of our history, like the story of Christ the Redeemer. It's empowering and inspiring.

I come from a family of domestics. I think most African-Americans of my age do. They were trusted by their bosses. I have met so many white people that spent more time with their nannies than they have with their own parents.

The bitter might be just an initial reaction of, 'Oh my goodness, it's sold,' but not really understanding fully that I will be chairman emeritus of the new company, which is Ebony Media Operations. It is African-American led and owned, and I have a seat on the board, and I also have an equity position in the company, so I'm still there.

The African-American classical scholar Frank Snowden has argued that color prejudice did not exist in the Greco-Roman world.35 "In the Mediterranean world," he notes, "the black man was seldom a strange, unknown being." Further, "in antiquity slavery was independent of race or class," so the stereotype of the black human as inherently slavish never developed as it did in the era of the middle passage.

As they left behind a world of servility and inferiority, consumers adopted beautifying as an essential aspect of becoming modern African-American women. Still, the ideal they favored remained a painfully restrictive one.

It turns out that there's a huge community of African-American musicians whose main influence is Throbbing Gristle.

In 2012 President Obama didn't go anywhere near African-American communities. Why? Because unemployment was so high there, he didn't want to address it.