Carter G. Woodson Quotes

We have a wonderful history behind us. … If you are unable to demonstrate to the world that you have this record, the world will say to you, ‘You are not worthy to enjoy the blessings of democracy or anything else’.

They still have some money, and they have needs to supply. They must begin immediately to pool their earnings and organize industries to participate in supplying social and economic demands.

The mere imparting of information is not education. Above all things, the effort must result in making a man think and do for himself.

When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions.

If the white man wants to hold on to it, let him do so; but the Negro, so far as he is able, should develop and carry out a program of his own.

We do not show the Negro how to overcome segregation, but we teach him how to accept it as final and just.

Truth must be dug up from the past and presented to the circle of scholastics in scientific form and then through stories and dramatizations that will permeate our educational system.

The author takes the position that the consumer pays the tax, and as such every individual of the social order should be given unlimited opportunity to make the most of himself.

You must give your own story to the world.

I am not afraid of being sued by white businessmen. In fact, I should welcome such a law suit.

Negroes who have been so long inconvenienced and denied opportunities for development are naturally afraid of anything that sounds like discrimination.

One can cite cases of Negroes who opposed emancipation and denounced the abolitionists.

In our so-called democracy we are accustomed to give the majority what they want rather than educate them to understand what is best for them.

Let us banish fear.