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American History Quotes

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American History Quotes

“A Republican seizure of power based not on the strength of the party's ideas but on massive disfranchisement denies citizens not only their rights, but also the "talisman" of humanity that voting represents. The lie of voter fraud breaks a World War II veteran down into a simple, horrifying statement: "I wasn't a citizen no more." It forces a man, a retired engineer who was instrumental in building this nation, into facing a bitter truth: "I am not wanted in this state." It eviscerates the key sense of self-worthy in a disabled man who has to pen the painful words "My constitutional rights have been stripped from me." It maligns thousands of African Americans who resiliently weathered the Missouri cold and hours of bureaucratic runarounds as nothing but criminals and frauds. It leaves a woman suffering from lung cancer absolutely "distraught" and convinced that "they prevented us from voting," because none of her IDs could penetrate Wisconsin's law. It shatters the dying wish of a woman who, in her last moments on earth, wanted to cast a vote for possibly the first woman president of the United States. But an expired driver's license meant none of that was to be.”

PoliticsRacismAmerican HistoryUs HistoryClassismVoter Suppression
Book:One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy
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“Iowa congressman Steve King lamented the passing of "a time in American history when you had to be a male property owner in order to vote." Florida congressional candidate Ted Yoho echoed that sentiment when he also proffered, "You used to have to be a property owner to vote." Of course, after the Great Recession, with African American homeownership lower than it had been during the 1930s and the lowest of all ethnic and racial groups in the United States, the implications of the GOP longings were obvious.”

RacismAmerican HistoryUs HistoryClassismVoter Suppression
Book:One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy
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“I once two beautiful children playing together. One was a fair white child; the other was her slave, and also her sister. When I saw them embracing each other, and heard their joyous laughter, I turned sadly away from the lovely sight. I foresaw the inevitable blight that would follow on the little slave's heart. I knew how soon her laughter would be changed to sighs. The fair child grew up to be a still fairer woman. From childhood to womanhood her pathway was blooming with flowers, and overarched by a sunny sky. Scarcely one day of her life had been clouded when the sun rose on her happy bridal morning. How had those years dealt with her slave sister, the little playmate of her childhood? She, also, was very beautiful; but the flowers and sunshine of love were not for her. She drank the cup of sin, and shame, and misery, whereof her persecuted race are compelled to drink. In view of these things, why are ye silent, ye free men and women of the north? Why do your tongues falter in maintenance of the right? Would that I had more ability! But my heart is so full, and my pen is so weak! There are noble men and women who plead for us, striving to help those who cannot help themselves. God bless them! God give them strength and courage to go on! God bless those, every where, who are laboring to advance the cause of humanity!”

SlaveryAmerican HistoryBlack HistoryUs HistoryWhite SilenceWhite History
Book:Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
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“I have myself known two southern wives who exhorted their husbands to free those slaves towards whom they stood in a "parental relation;" and their request was granted. These husbands blushed before the superior nobleness of their wives' natures. Though they had only counseled them to do that which was their duty to do, it commanded their respect, and rendered their conduct more exemplary. Concealment was at an end, and confidence took the place of distrust.”

SlaveryAmerican HistoryUs HistorySouthern WomenThe South
Book:Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself
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“John [Adams] supposed there were two reasons why the British had gone after John Hancock. First, they wanted to make an example out of him, showing what would happen to anyone, no matter how rich, who dared to defy the new Townshend Act. Second, John Hancock was the biggest financial support of men like Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty. In fact, John Adams was reasonably sure that Sam Adams had no money whatsoever and that John Hancock was paying all his bills.”

HistoryAmerican HistoryBostonUs HistoryDeclaration Of IndependenceJohn AdamsSamuel AdamsThe American RevolutionJohn Hancock
Book:John Adams: Independence Forever
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“The United States was not alone, however, in showing Washington due respect. Time had so changed that the British admiral made the sixty men-of-war off the English coast fly their flags at half-mast, for the very man whom his country had once wished to hang. In France, Napoleon Bonaparte ordered public mourning for ten days; for Washington's name was known and honored everywhere.”

InspirationalAmericaHistoryUnited StatesAmerican HistoryUs HistoryGeorge Washington
Book:The Story of the Americans
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“All that part of Creation that lies within our observation is liable to change... If we look into history, we shall find some nations rising from contemptible beginnings and spreading their influence, until the whole globe is subjected to their ways... England immediately upon this began to increase (the particular and minute cause of which I am not historian enough to trace) in power and magnificence, and is now the greatest nation upon the globe. Soon after the Reformation a few people came over into the new world for conscience sake. Perhaps this (apparently) trivial incident may transfer the great seat of empire into America. It looks likely to me. For if we can remove the turbulent Gallics, our people, according to the exactest computations, will in another century, become more numerous than England itself. Should this be the case, since we have (I may say) all the naval stores of the nation in our hands, it will be easy to obtain the mastery of the seas, and then the united force of all Europe will not be able to subdue us. The only way to keep us from setting up for ourselves is to disunite us... Keep us in distinct colonies... Be not surprised that I am turned politician. The whole town is immersed in politics.”

HistoryAmerican HistoryBiographyUs HistoryJohn AdamsThe American Revolution
Author:John Adams
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“Having voted for independence, they now needed to discuss and vote on the text of a declaration of independence that Thomas Jefferson had drawn up. The text Jefferson had written was read aloud, and throughout the day the delegates made changes. They deleted about twenty-five percent of the text, thinking it not applicable, or too emotive, or beside the point.”

InspirationalHistoryConstitutionAmerican HistoryWorld HistoryUs HistoryDeclaration Of IndependenceThomas JeffersonJohn Adams
Book:John Adams: Independence Forever
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“In 1890...the Magnolia State passed the Mississippi Plan, a dizzying array of poll taxes, literacy tests, understanding clauses, newfangled voter registration rules, and "good character" clauses—all intentionally racially discriminatory but dressed up in the genteel garb of bringing "integrity" to the voting booth.”

RacismAmerican HistoryWhite SupremacyUs HistorySuffrageVoter Suppression
Book:One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy
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“Bilbo was pointing to the power of the literacy test and understanding clause, which were tailor-made for societies that systematically refused to educate millions of their citizens and ensured that the bulk of the population remained functionally illiterate...for most of the twentieth century, many Jim Crow school systems did not have high schools for African Americans.”

EducationRacismAmerican HistoryLiteracyUs HistorySuffrageVoter Suppression
Book:One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy
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“So then the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association merged to create the National American Woman Suffrage Association, which personally I think is rather a mouthful,' Adelaide said as she set down her wineglass. 'I'm sure others have much shorter terms,' the doctor said, sawing into his steak with more vigor than necessary. 'Such as?' Grace asked. 'There are plenty who just call us bitches, dear.”

HistoryAmerican HistoryUs HistorySuffrageWoman SuffrageSuffragettesSuffragistsWomen S Suffrage
Book:A Madness So Discreet
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“Sixty years prior to the death of “Che” Guevara and high in the same Bolivian highlands, Butch Cassidy and Harry A. Longabaugh, “the Sundance kid,” were holed up and then gunned down by the Bolivian army. It is thought that being mortally wounded, one of them shot the other before shooting himself. Attempts to find any remains that match the DNA of living relatives, has so far failed. However, Butch Cassidy's sister, Lula Parker Betenson, maintained that her brother returned to the United States and lived in seclusion for years. In 1975, Red Fenwick, the feature writer and columnist at The Denver Post, stated that he was acquainted with Cassidy's physician, who continued to treat him for some years after he supposedly was killed in Bolivia.”

American HistoryWestern RomanceOutlawsBolivian HistoryButch Cassidy Sundance Kid
Author:Captain Hank Bracker, "The Exciting Story of Cuba"
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“Detroit has turned the corner on its renaissance, but few people know how the city was, and still is, at the cutting edge of manufacturing, innovation, and culture. My new book is a tribute to the men and women who built a city out of the wilderness starting in 1701, and sustained its incredible growth to become the world's Industrial Versailles in 1900. And the best part is, Detroit is still leading the way. It remains the ultimate Maker City.”

InspirationalGrowthHistoryMakersAmerican HistoryCityManufacturingDetroitLogisticsAutomotive
Book:Detroit: Engine of America
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“The heroic and often tragic stories of American whalemen were renowned. They sailed the world’s oceans and brought back tales filled with bravery, perseverance, endurance, and survival. They mutinied, murdered, rioted, deserted, drank, sang, spun yarns, scrimshawed, and recorded their musings and observations in journals and letters. They survived boredom, backbreaking work, tempestuous seas, floggings, pirates, putrid food, and unimaginable cold. Enemies preyed on them in times of war, and competitors envied them in times of peace. Many whalemen died from violent encounters with whales and from terrible miscalculations about the unforgiving nature of nature itself. And through it all, whalemen, those “iron men in wooden boats” created a legacy of dramatic, poignant, and at times horrific stories that can still stir our emotions and animate the most primal part of our imaginations. “To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme,” proclaimed Herman Melville, and the epic story of whaling is one of the mightiest themes in American history.”

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Book:Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America
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“American whale oil lit the world. It was used in the production of soap, textiles, leather, paints, and varnishes, and it lubricated the tools and machines that drove the Industrial Revolution. The baleen cut from the mouths of whales shaped the course of feminine fashion by putting the hoop in hooped skirts and giving form to stomachtightening and chest-crushing corsets. Spermaceti, the waxy substance from the heads of sperm whales, produced the brightest- and cleanest-burning candles the world has ever known, while ambergris, a byproduct of irritation in a sperm whale’s bowel, gave perfumes great staying power and was worth its weight in gold.”

HistoryOceanAmerican HistoryWhalesShipMoby DickWhalingHarpoon
Book:Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America
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“If America stands today as a free country, it's because of those Americans who sacrificed their lives fighting against the redcoats. But there is another side of American history which is not taught in schools. And it's the bitter side of the story, so brace for it. The only reason the country called America even exists is because the native americans who were living in the land for a long time before the pilgrims arrived here from Europe, couldn't organize a large and strong enough uprising to fight them away from their land. This is more reason for each person of this sweet land of liberty to practice assimilation not segregation - this is more reason for each of us to come to the aid of the oppressed and segregated - this is more reason for each of us to stand upright against discrimination, narcissism, prejudice and sectarianism.”

RacismPrejudiceInclusionAmerican HistorySegregationAmericanNative AmericansFourth Of JulyLand Of LibertyHistory Of America
Book:Hurricane Humans: Give me accountability, I'll give you peace
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“The American Sonnet On Mayflower we arrived filled with hope, Escaping persecution and atrocities. Upon landing we became the persecutor, And atrociously evicted communities. Apparently we were civilized people, Who wanted it all for ourselves. We snatched it all from the innocent natives, And gave reservations to help themselves. Even today we ignore these atrocities, And continue to perpetuate segregation. We may look civilized on the outside, Inside we are walking discrimination. We are the land of liberty but only in theory, It's time to walk the talk and embody the glory.”

AmericaAmerican HistoryUnited States Of AmericaAmerican CultureSonnetAmerican RevolutionAmericanSystemic RacismAmericanaLand Of Liberty
Book:Boldly Comes Justice: Sentient Not Silent
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“Immigrant American (Sonnet 2847-2850) With bold new dreams we crossed the sea, escaping chains, seeking liberty - but the land we found had living roots, ancient voices we chose to mute. We called ourselves the civilized, while truth was buried falsified - we took the land, we drew the lines, and called it an act of grand design. But history whispers through the ground, in every stolen, silenced sound - if liberty is what we claim, then justice must ignite our vein. Say, can you see the truth we hide, behind the stars, behind the pride - a banner bright yet shadows cast, by wounds we've carried from the past! If freedom is judged by how we treat the ones trodden beneath our feet, then we are far from brave and free, we are what we refuse to see. No dawn will break, no future grow, if hate is the seed we choose to sow - before we praise, before we claim, we must unlearn the roots of shame. If migrants aren't American, then neither is Lady Liberty - she too arrived from distant lands, yet stands as hope for all to see. This soil was shaped by wandering souls, by broken dreams aiming to be whole - a nation thrives not by its walls, but by how wide it opens doors. America is not the best, America is the test we face - not supremacy, not perfection, but courage born of self-correction. Not red or blue, not black or white, but every shade holds the human light - no stars for hate, no stripes for fear, let human hearts be what we wear. Sing, o sing, not of empty glory - write anew a human story. No more flags soaked in denial, no more pride that breeds exile. Rise, o rise, from myth to task - dare the truth now, face the facts. Not land of the free in word alone, make humanity our only throne. Here, you take the Naskar Pen, now go lead with the Dream of the King - from fractured past to conscious dawn, a human nation will sure be born.”

AmericaSocial JusticeCivil RightsImmigrantsFascismAmerican HistoryAmericanNative AmericansStatue Of LibertyLand Of Liberty
Book:Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth
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“When you come down to the ground of humanity from your pedestal of intellect, then you realize that though white Americans received independence from British occupation on July 4th, 1776, it meant nothing as to the fate of the Black Americans, for they still continued to suffer as slaves officially until the declaration of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st 1863, and somewhat unofficially till Juneteenth, that is, June 19th, 1866. I say somewhat unofficially because, it ought to be clear to anybody with half a brain by now that, slavery didn’t actually end either with Emancipation Proclamation or on Juneteenth, it morphed into racism.”

RacismSlaveryAmerican HistoryBlack HistoryEmancipationAmericanSystemic RacismEmancipation ProclamationJuly 4thJuneteenth
Book:Hometown Human: To Live for Soil and Society
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“A former Hollywood actor and a senior citizen when he first took the oath of office, Reagan was a revolutionary in many significant ways, but not necessarily in the fashion one might expect. His two terms, and the term of his successor as well, might well be described as the greatest chasm between image and reality that this country has ever witnessed.”

FilmHorrorAmerican HistoryAmerican CultureFilm HistoryFilm Criticism1980sHorror Movies
Book:Horror Films of the 1980s
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“Private Detective, John Ballou, opened his glove compartment and took out his Colt 45 thinking an ex-con might be setting him up to settle an old score. He checked the bullet clip and slipped the powerful pistol into his coat pocket.”

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Book:James Ed Hoskins and the One-Room Schoolhouse: The Unprosecuted Crime Against Children
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“On the ninth anniversary celebration of the Moncada Barracks Attack, Castro gave a speech in Santiago stating that the only thing Cuba had to fear was a direct attack by the United States. At the same time, the Russians were off-loading men and equipment from ships at the small, hardly-noticed port of Mariel. They transported their equipment, mostly at night, into a thickly wooded area in the mountains near San Cristóbal, which was 26 miles away from the port and approximately 50 miles from Havana. The CIA received a report that a twenty-six foot missile had been seen being transported on Cuban Highway A 1. This was twice the size of a SAM missile and the CIA deemed it highly unlikely that the Soviet Union would send offensive weapons of this size to Cuba. However, with the cold war in high gear, Khrushchev thought that he could change the balance of power between the United States and the Soviet Union by placing missiles on Cuban soil. This operation was conducted in strict secrecy, with Castro reluctantly agreeing to it. Castro still felt that Cuba’s alliance with the Soviet’s was risky and that this was a negative compromise undermining Cuban autonomy. Their secret however became confirmed by an Air Force U 2 surveillance aircraft, sent on a reconnaissance mission, dispatched over the western part of the island. The United States and the Soviet Union agreed on a deal. In return for pulling the Russian missiles out of Cuba the U.S. agreed to pull its missiles out of Turkey.”

American HistoryCuban HistoryRussian History
Author:Captain Hank Bracker
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“New Orleans' rebellious and free-spirited personality is nothing if not resilient. And so the disruptive energies of the place- its vibrancy and eccentricity, its defiance and nonconformity, and yes, its violence and depravity- are likely to live on.”

American HistoryNew OrleansLouisianaHurricane KatrinaNew Orleans French QuarterGary Krist
Book:Empire of Sin: A Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans
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“This was, after all, New Orleans in 1890- the Crescent City of the Gilded Age, where aliases of convenience and unconventional living arrangements were anything but out of the ordinary, at least in certain parts of town. Identities were fluid here, and names and appearances weren't always the best guide to telling who was who.”

American HistoryNew OrleansLouisianaGilded AgeNew Orleans French QuarterGary KristStoryville
Book:Empire of Sin: A Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans
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“Educate not Legislate Refusing to pass unnecessary laws requires a converse – encouraging education and understanding. We started by slashing the salaries of legislators (Dubbed “Bloodbath on the Beltway”). That move provided funds to instigate incentive programs for high school teachers – to attract the best and brightest. The result was a generation of bright, energetic 18-year-olds graduating high-school, equipped to tackle the future.”

AmericaCultureFictionHistoryDramaEducationalServiceAmerican HistoryWomen In PoliticsFictional Narratives
Book:The Most Popular President Who Ever Lived [So Far]
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“The UAE Sonnet I'm asked to compare USA with UAE, So here it is, in my free form sonnetary. For starters, there is no comparison - UAE is a civilized country, USA is not. Sure UAE has its share of violations, like every living country in the world, but unlike USA, the incredible growth and the very birth of UAE is not founded on the worst kind of atrocities in history. In fact, forget the rich, safe and prosperous UAE - on the civilization scale USA is the bottom scraper of history.”

UsaAmerican HistoryArabDubaiArabian NightsEmiratesUaeAbu DhabiDubai CityUnited Arab Emirates
Book:Dervis Vadisi: 100 Promissory Sonnets
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“I'm asked to compare USA with UAE, So here it is, in my free form sonnetary. For starters, there is no comparison - UAE is a civilized country, USA is not. Sure UAE has its share of violations, like every living country in the world, but unlike USA, the incredible growth and the very birth of UAE is not founded on the worst kind of atrocities in history.”

American HistoryArabDubaiArabian NightsEmiratesUaeAbu DhabiDubai CityUnited Arab EmiratesExpo City
Book:Dervis Vadisi: 100 Promissory Sonnets
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“The 1790 Naturalization law determined that "free white persons" could naturalize after two years of residency, and established that the children of citizens would also be citizens. Soon after, in 1795, Congress extended the residency period to five years, and in 1798 extended the residency requirement even further, to fourteen years.”

RacismAmerican HistoryRacism In AmericaImmigration LawNaturalization179817901795Us Citizenship
Book:The New Immigration Federalism
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“The newspaper encouraged displaced entrepreneurs to open businesses in South Tulsa and continue smashing color barriers. But it also spoke to a larger argument about how the definition of black success had changed from building up your own community in the era of Jim Crow to "getting out" to chase bigger opportunities in the formerly all-white world.”

American HistoryBlack HistoryTulsa Race Riots
Book:Built from the Fire: The Epic Story of Tulsa's Greenwood District, America's Black Wall Street
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“It was important to name this house, but not the way "Sweet Home" or other plantations were named. There would be no adjectives suggesting coziness or grandeur or the laying claim to an instant, aristocratic past. Only numbers here to identify the house while simultaneously separating it from a street or city—marking its difference from the houses of other blacks in the neighborhood; allowing it a hint of the superiority, the pride, former slaves would take in having an address of their own. Yet a house that has, literally, a personality—which we call "haunted" when that personality is blatant.”

HouseHistoryRacismSlaveryAmerican HistoryGhostsBlack HistoryBlack Women QuotesHauntedPlantation
Book:Beloved
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“White supremacy is not a human right, it's a human rights violation, and by allowing a school to keep black history out of their curriculum, a government only perpetuates white supremacy, hence it perpetuates a human rights violation.”

SlaveryAmerican HistoryAfrican AmericansWhite SupremacyBlack HistoryHuman Rights ViolationBlack History MonthWhite SupremacistNeo Nazi
Book:Hometown Human: To Live for Soil and Society
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