This story was originally published on Word In Black.
By: Quintessa Williams
2024 was a challenging year for Black students, teachers, and language. Some school districts banned books, others restricted how classrooms discussed Black history, and others tried to curb Black kids from using cultural slang. Outside of the classroom, many young Black people were and still are discouraged by the return of President-elect Donald Trump, —a candidate who openly used racist language in his defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black woman to lead a major party’s presidential ticket.
It has all shown that words still matter.
But the start of a new year brings a clean slate, a fresh opportunity to use words for inspiration and goal-setting. For Black students, messages of encouragement and wisdom — especially from educators and leaders who share their cultural heritage — can foster an empowering sense of identity and pride.
As we welcome 2025, here are some inspirational quotes that aim to uplift and start Black students off strong:
- “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” — Malcolm X, activist and educator.
- “When you control a man’s thinking, you do not have to worry about his actions.” — Dr. Carter G. Woodson, scholar, historian and the father of Black History Month.
- “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.” — Booker T. Washington, educator and founder of Tuskegee Institute
- “Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.” — Langston Hughes, poet and educator.
- “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education.” — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights leader.
- “You are your best thing.” — Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize-winning author and educator.
- “You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.” — Angela Davis, civil rights activist and educator.
- “We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated.” — Maya Angelou, author and educator
- “Knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom.” — Frederick Douglass, abolitionist and educator.
- “Learning to stand in somebody else’s shoes, to see through their eyes, that’s how peace begins.” — former President Barack Obama.
- “I did what my conscience told me to do, and you can’t fail if you do that.” — Anita Hill, attorney and educator.
- “To bring about change, you must not be afraid to take the first step. We will fail when we fail to try.” — civil rights activist Rosa Parks.
- “Freedom is never given; it is won.” — A. Philip Randolph, labor leader and civil rights activist.
- “Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.” — scientist and educator George Washington Carver.
- “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring in a folding chair.” — Rep. Shirley Chisholm, a New York Democrat and the first Black woman to run for president.
- “Children are not things to be molded, but are people to be unfolded.” — Jess Lair, educator and philosopher.
- “History has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.” — former First Lady Michelle Obama.
- “The whole world opened to me when I learned to read.” — Mary McLeod Bethune, founder of Bethune-Cookman University.
- “I believe a child going without an education is a crime.” — Vice President Kamala Harris.
- “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” — South African President Nelson Mandela.
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