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Black Quotes

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Black Quotes

“The world has white people and black people in it. Even in Harlem.”

People World Black White Black People Harlem

Author:Angela Bassett

“In Harlem, for instance, all of the stores are owned by white people, all of the buildings are owned by white people. The black people are just there - paying rent, buying the groceries; but they don't own the stores, clothing stores, food stores, any kind of stores; don't even own the homes that they live in. They are all owned by outsiders, and for these run-down apartment dwellings, the black man in Harlem pays more money than the man down in the rich Park Avenue section.”

“Well, I couldn't play an instrument. I'd just stand up front and announce the numbers. They had me sing a little, but that was a horrible mistake. I can't carry a tune in a bucket. We played black theaters and nightclubs all over hell. One-nighters. Apollo Theater in Harlem and the Earle Theater in Philly - That was big time for blacks.”

Wells Littles I Can Play Bigs Sports Black Numbers Mistake Hell Fronts Theater Instruments Athlete Horrible Tunes Apollo Buckets Harlem Nightclubs Horrible Mistakes

Author:Jesse Owens

“I majored in directing. However, I did spend some time at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, so I am somewhat well-versed in African Studies.”

Wells Culture Black Study Research Harlem Black Culture

Author:Chadwick Boseman

“In Harlem, black was white. You had rights that could not be denied you; you had privileges, protected by law. And you had money. Everybody in Harlem had money. It was a land of plenty.”

Law Black White Rights Land Privilege Plenty Denied Protected Harlem

Book:The City of Refuge: The Collected Stories of Rudolph Fisher

Source: The City of Refuge: The Collected Stories of Rudolph Fisher

“I've always thought it would be fun to update "Hansel and Gretel." I'd have these white parents in the suburbs with an income of fifty or sixty thousand dollars. Daddy loses his job, and the wicked stepmother says, "We could get along, we could keep our Mastercharge, if you'd just get rid of those shitty kids." Finally the father hires a limo and tells the driver, "Drop 'em off on Lenox Avenue in Harlem at two in the morning." These two little white kids land there. They're menaced. And this supposedly nice black lady says, "Would you like some candy?"”

“I was a kid who liked art and theater and dance and music, but if you lived in Harlem, high culture was somewhere else, and it wasn't black.”

Ifs Art Kids Culture Black Theater Somewhere Else Harlem

Author:Samuel R. Delany