“I can see why many Southerners, black ones in particular, don't like the implication that Southernness and the Confederate heritage are one and the same, because they're not. On the other hand, there are people who want to extirpate that completely and want folks to spit on the graves of their ancestors.” PeopleWantI CanHandsBlackParticularFolksGravesHeritageAncestorImplicationsSpitConfederateSoutherner Author:John Shelton Reed
“X is not my real name. But if you study history, you'll find why no Black man in the Western Hemisphere knows his real name. Some of his ancestors kidnapped our ancestors from Africa and took us into the Western Hemisphere and sold us there, and our names were stripped from us and so today we don't know who we really are. I am one of those who admit it, and so I just put X up there to keep from wearing his name.” IfsKnowsMenRealTodayNamesBlackStudyWesternAncestorHemisphereKidnapped Author:Malcolm X
“The equilibrium you admire in me is an unstable one, difficult to maintain. My inner life was split early between the call of the Ancestors and the call of Europe, between the exigencies of black-African culture and those of modern life.” CultureDifficultBlackModernEuropeAdmireAncestorSplitsModern LifeInner LifeEquilibriumUnstableAfrican Culture Author:Leopold Sedar Senghor
“Your ancestors dragged these black people from their homes by force; and in the white man's quest for wealth and an easy life they have been ruthlessly suppressed and exploited, degraded into slavery. The modern prejudice against Negroes is the result of the desire to maintain this unworthy condition.” PeopleMenHas BeensHomeDesireForceEasyBlackWealthWhiteResultsModernConditionsPrejudiceSlaveryBlack PeopleAncestorQuestsWhite ManUnworthyEasy Life Book:Out of My Later Years: The Scientist, Philosopher, and Man Portrayed Through His Own Words Source: Out of My Later Years: The Scientist, Philosopher, and Man Portrayed Through His Own Words