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African American Authors Quotes

Browse 146 quotes about African American Authors.

African American Authors Quotes

“The tales Stolen men and women handed down to their children included the adventures of Buba Yalis, or flying Africans. According to the stories, certain Stolen had been gifted with the power of flight. After chanting buba yali and other phrases now forgotten, they rose above their misery and flew back to our homeland. Others could do the same, the story went, if only they could remember the magic words.”

“In a clearing, we began a ring shout by linking hands and marching counterclockwise, each step taking us back to a time before Thieves, before abduction and the routine infliction of wicked depravities. To a time before we were Stolen, when our ancestors walked with us and anything was possible. With the accompaniment of tapping sticks and the humming of sacred sounds, we raised our hands high. “Brethren, Sistren,” I urged, “let us be who we are.”

“Waking quickly, I leapt to the ground and looked directly into the eyes of the Savage. He looked entirely different, calm somehow; all traces of lunacy had vanished from his expression. His mouth, usually slack and oblivious to the ever-present flies, had formed a sly smile, his lips curved and tight with purpose. These he opened and uttered the first word I’d ever heard him speak. “Run,” he said. “Run.” I had seconds to obey him before flames devoured the entire conveyance.”

“Though Mary could not speak she had learned to endow her gestures with great meaning. Every raised eyebrow and curled lip conveyed precise instructions, from take care with the salt to add more wood to the fire. Planters from farms throughout the county sent their Stolen cooks to study and practice under her knowing gaze. Watching her preside over her smoky cookhouse was akin to watching an elaborate dance. The Thieves, with their reels and waltzes, couldn’t begin to match the majestic grace of Silent Mary and her acolytes as they moved about her tiny space, conjuring tasty confections from the smoke and flames.”

“A baby fortunate to survive long enough to acquire the gift of speech learned quickly about the world into which she was born. There was likelihood she would never have a chance to use such words as “mother” or “father.” Instead she would learn terms like “Stolen” and “Thief” right after she learned her own name. But no matter the circumstances and through a process none of us could explain, she would always remember the seven words whispered in her ear.”

“Divine manifesting is collaboration with God/dess energy to mold our lives for the highest and best good of the collective. We are all manifesting our lives, albeit unconsciously for most people.”

“Goddess alchemy is learning to see through this dimension into the next and welcome in what you are seeking. Healers, priestesses, and brujas of African descent have used magic for access to healing, protection, and joy since time began.”

“Put your hand over your heart and say aloud, “I am not alone.” Your ancestors walked before you and we, your sisters on this cosmic quest, walk with you.”

“You are divine. You are rich. You have good juju as you have inherited the greatest inheritance there is. You have the power to shift worlds and bend them to your will. Accept your ancestral inheritance now. You are heiress to a rich heritage of divine prosperity.”

“Some of us have been hiding, shrinking, betraying ourselves, faking the funk, and playing small for so long that we believe that we are small. That shrunken self is not you. That shrunken self is a persona you created to survive.”

“When Africans were kidnapped, trafficked en masse and brutally dragged in chains to work camps in the “New World,” called plantations, we hid our deities and rituals in stories of saints, angels, and legendary characters. Our deities included a powerful cadre of orishas, abosom, lwas, álúsí, spirits, and god/desses. From South Africa to Sudan, Brazil to Cuba to even Indigenous Australia, we chant their names: Yemaya, Mami Wata, Atete, Iset, and Ala.”

“What are you speaking over your life right now? If you’re speaking fear, desperation, or scarcity, then that is what you are calling forward. Speak love over your life. Speak abundance into your life. Speak healing.”

“Goddess rising is an energy that can no longer be contained. We are awakening en masse to our sacred feminine power, and it has been a long time coming. Actually, a long time coming back.”

“I love that while we were cracking 40s, Mad Dog 20/20, and wine coolers (yes!), we were on a sacred continuum, connected to an ancient gift that survived from our ancestors.”

“We are not here by accident. The sages predicted this time. We are out of alignment with Asase Yaa, aka Mama Nature. Life is out of balance. You see what is happening. There is upheaval in the atmosphere. Old systems are being dismantled, structures are breaking, and illusions are being exposed. The patriarchy is in shambles. This is the moment to summon the sacred within and step boldly into our sacred energies as queens, warriors, sorceresses, and lovers. We must nurture the goddess within to course correct.”

“You have been called to this goddess circle because somewhere in your bloodline there is someone who knows. She prayed for you before your grandmother’s grandmother was a thought. She knew that you deserve better.”

“No more saying that you’re not worthy, no more feeling like you’re not enough, no more watering yourself down to make other people feel safe. No more to not living up to your own dreams and full magic. No more.”

“There is critical mass rage and grief for lifetimes of horrific injustices plus ancestral rage, grief, unprocessed trauma. Old systems, structures and status quo are grasping by reinforcing false power with physical, emotional, psychological violence and terror.”

“I have seen disparaging comments on social media toward my fellow African American and Afro-Caribbean people throughout the diaspora. People saying things like, “they’re wearing beauty shop dashikis” or “they’re grasping at straws because they don’t know anything about Africa.” Listen, we get our healing the way we need to. And if I put on a beauty shop dashiki, it’s because that is what I have access to. And I will rock it—proudly—and be connected to my motherland and my Source in the way that my womb energy tells me is connective for me.”

“I’ve had motherland-born African family tell me I don’t have a right to my Africanness because my ancestors were sold. I have had multi-generation African American family tell me I don’t have a right to my Americanness although I was born and raised on Black soil in the U.S. of A. I have had Guyanese family tell me I don’t have a right to the culture that birthed my parents, grandparents, and their great-grandparents because I am a “Yankee.” For all these folks, I am an orphan. But that’s their problem, because only I get to define me, and I own all of my spiritual, cultural, geographical, and genetic DNA.”

“The moon goddesses clap now, singing the Ghanaian adage, “The moon moves slowly, but it gets across the village.” From new to full, each takes a turn as a different phase of Luna. The heavenly bodies dance in the moonlight, singing your name. Tell them in their newness what desires you are calling in. Tell them in their fullness what blocks you are releasing.”

“Your true desires should turn you on, give you a juicy tingle between your legs, excite you and stretch what you believe is possible. Give the Divine the opening to dream the biggest dream for you by dreaming the biggest dream for yourself.”

“I had not expected the gentle, tentative surge of gratitude I began to feel...for St. Paul's School, the spring, and the early morning. I needed the morning light and the warbling birds. I needed to find a way to live in this place for a moment and get the good of it. I had tried to hold myself apart, and the aloneness proved more terrible than what I had tried to escape.”

“As a Black man and therapist, I know that the ways we heal may look different from the ways mainstream wellness talks about health. Black men experience the same challenges as anyone else, but with the added pressures of racism, increased stigma, and oppression. The path to healing is different and needs to take into account our lived brealities and the complexity of contemporary Black masculinity.”

“Don't blow off another's candle for it won't make yours shine brighter.”

“Most people write me off when they see me. They do not know my story. They say I am just an African. They judge me before they get to know me. What they do not know is The pride I have in the blood that runs through my veins; The pride I have in my rich culture and the history of my people; The pride I have in my strong family ties and the deep connection to my community; The pride I have in the African music, African art, and African dance; The pride I have in my name and the meaning behind it. Just as my name has meaning, I too will live my life with meaning. So you think I am nothing? Don’t worry about what I am now, For what I will be, I am gradually becoming. I will raise my head high wherever I go Because of my African pride, And nobody will take that away from me.”