Today marks the end of Black History Month in the United States for 2020. James Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) It comes as a great shock to discover the country which is your birthplace and to which you owe your life and your identity has not in its …
Nelson Mandela On Something Special
Nelson Mandela (July 18, 1918 – December 05, 2013) A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.
WEB Du Bois On Being The Problem
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) It dawned upon me with a certain suddenness that I was different from the others—shut out from their world by a vast veil. For the world I longed for, and all its dazzling opportunities, were theirs, not mine. Why did God make me …
Gary Younge On Thriving Against Racism
Gary Younge (January 1969 -) With racism, cynicism and intolerance on the rise, wages stagnant and faith that progressive change is possible declining even as resistance grows. Things look bleak. The propensity to despair is strong, but should not be indulged. Sing yourself up. Imagine a world in which you might thrive, for which there …
Lorraine Vivian Hansberry On Depression
Lorraine Hansberry (May 19, 1930–January 12, 1965) It is curious how intellectual I have become about the whole thing… [about] what I apparently am. My unhappiness has become a steady, calm quiet sort of misery. It is always with me and when for a moment something or other stirs me from its immediate ravages (thank …
Barbara Hillary On Options
Barbara Hillary (June 12, 1931 – November 23, 2019) At every phase in your life, look at your options. Please, do not select boring ones.
Langston Hughes On April Rain Song
Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby. The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk. The rain makes running pools in the gutter. The rain plays a little sleep-song on …
Neil deGrasse Tyson On Transformation
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. Neil deGrasse Tyson (October 05, 1958 -) Recognize that the very molecules that make up your body, the atoms that construct the molecules, are traceable to the crucibles that were once the centers …
Ntozake Shange On Magic
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. Ntozake Shange (October 18, 1948 -) My Father Is A Retired Magician my father is a retired magician which accounts for my irregular behavior everythin comes outta magic hats or bottles wit no …
Booker T Washington On Success
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. Booker T Washington (April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915) Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he …
Josephine Baker On Differences
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. Josephine Baker (June 03, 1906 – April 12, 1975) Surely the day will come when color means nothing more than skin tone, when religion is seen uniquely as a way to speak one's …
Barack Obama On Change
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. Barack Obama (August 04, 1961 -) 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 …
Audre Lorde On The Transformation of Silence
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. Audre Lorde (February 18, 1934 – November 17, 1992) The Transformation of Silence Into Language and Action I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to …
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Miles Davis On Taking Credit
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. Miles Davis (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) I hate how white people always try to take credit for something after they discover it. Like it wasn't happening before they found out …
August Wilson On The Blues
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. August Wilson (April 27, 1945 – October 2, 2005) Blues is the bedrock of everything I do. All the characters in my plays, their ideas and their attitudes, the stance that they adopt …
Sonny Rollins On Being Human
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. Sonny Rollins (September 07, 1930 -) It’s not a matter of your intelligence or anything. You have to have a gift. Just as, I’m sure, for other professions. […] I came upon these …
Zinzi Clemmons On Writers
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. Zinzi Clemmons l never felt like I had a tribe that I could belong to without some qualification – ‘you are this, but’… That kind of experience is what makes you a writer …
Bob Herbert On Wealth
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. Bob Herbert (March 07, 1945 -) Overwhelming imbalances in wealth and income inevitably result in enormous imbalances of political power. So the corporations and the very wealthy continue to do well. The employment …
Nikki Giovanni On Beautiful Black Men
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. Nikki Giovanni (June 7, 1943 -) Beautiful Black Men (With compliments and apologies to all not mentioned by name) i wanta say just gotta say something bout those beautiful beautiful beautiful outasight black …
Ralph Ellison on Shame
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. Ralph Ellison (March 1, 1913– April 16, 1994) I am not ashamed of my grandparents for having been slaves. I am only ashamed of myself for having at one time being ashamed. …
LeBron James On Race
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. LeBron James (December 30, 1984 -) No matter how much money you have, no matter how famous you are, no matter how many people admire you, being black in America is tough. …
Tracy K Smith On Time
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. Tracy K Smith (April 16, 1972 -) They're gassing geese outside of JFK. Tehran will likely fill up soon with blood The Times is getting smaller day by day. We've learned to back …
Richard Wright On Hunger For Life
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. Richard Wright (September 4, 1908 – November 28, 1960) I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send …
Tao Writer On Standing Undiminished
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. Tao Writer (April 17, 1948 -) Stand Undiminished-The Poem Taken from my motherland in chains to travel waters unknown by me, to toil in soil unfamiliar to my hands. Forced to speak a …
Harriet Tubman On Strength
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. Harriet Tubman (c.1822 – March 10, 1913) Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience and the passion to reach for the stars and to change the world. Photo …
Jamaica Kincaid On Writing
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. Jamaica Kincaid (May 25, 1949 -) When I start to write something, I suppose I want it to change me, to make me into something not myself. And while I'm doing it, I …
Maya Angelou On Phenomenal Women
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, writers, and musicians. Maya Angelou (April 04,1928 - May 28, 2014) Phenomenal Woman Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size But when I start to tell …
Lyndon B Johnson On Race
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. Lyndon B Johnson (August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973) We believe all men are entitled to the blessings of liberty. Yet millions are being deprived of those blessings because of the color …
Martin L King On Satisfaction
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. Martin L King (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) No, no, we are not satisfied and will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream. …
Derek Walcott On Bleecker Street
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. Derek Walcott (January 23, 1930 – March 17, 2017) Bleecker Street, Summer Summer for prose and lemons, for nakedness and languor, for the eternal idleness of the imagined return, for rare flutes and …
Frederick Douglass On Reflection
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. Frederick Douglass (February 02, 1818–February 20, 1895) The process by which man is able to posit his own subjective nature outside of himself, giving it form, color, space, and all the attributes of …
James Baldwin On Freedom
In recognition of Black History Month, Transformation Publications will present poems, essays, and other artistic creations by Black artists, musicians, and writers. James Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) Freedom is not something that anybody can be given; freedom is something people take and people are as free as they want to …
