“I look like you. Sound like you. Move like you.
Speak your language. But I’m not like you. I never was.”
Source: Octopus Mimicus: A Literary Memoir of Love, Autism, and a Different Mind
“But we hav always resisted slavery. Our constant resistance was central to bringing about slavery's end. I came here not only to recover then history of this resistance, but also to specifically find the women whose stories had been written out of slave revolts. After reading every scrap of every story about slave revolts, I came across ones that included women, but only if I read between the lines.”
Source: Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts
“Is there any space left in these documents for the testimony of Sarah, Abigail, Lily, or Amba? No, only this: "Having said no more than she had previously said for herself." No one bothered to record what they had said before. This is one way history erases us. What we had to say was not even considered important enough to record.”
Source: Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts
“Laying aside gendered assumptions, I could start over and ask, "Why would there be more revolts on ships where there were more women?" The answer was immediately obvious to me: the people who regulated this business, developed slave ship operating procedures, and actually ran the ships, kept women mostly unchained, on deck, and near the weapons.”
“Frida fell in love with Diego in that way that women surrender to men who will only bring them pain.”
Source: El Libro Secreto de Frida Kahlo
“The woman should always rule at her own wedding, even if everyone thinks she's a bitch.”
Source: The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo
“For women, a wedding is the pinnacle of girlish dreams, the culmination of playing tea party with her dolls. A wedding is when we're all queens, when we are all respected. They're pure nonsense, simple idiocies. They're capitalist dreams so we'll buy a hypocritically white dress that's miles from our immaculate virginity.”
Source: The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo
“No, I’m not tougher. I’m not moodier…I’m just bloody tired. But if I give up and lie on the sofa all day the whole damn thing will fall apart at the seams.”
Source: Someone Else's Shoes
“People behave in strange and illogical ways when they're afraid they may have to take responsibility.”
Source: Heart Lamp: Selected Stories
“We met at all hours, whenever a new emergency demanded attention. It was not unusual to find some of us talking things over in one of our homes at two-thirty in the morning. While our wives plied us with coffee, and joined the informal discussion, we laid plans and arrived at agreements on policy.”
Source: Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story