“Women have to summon courage to fulfill dormant dreams.”

“When I offered the word "Womanism" many years ago, it was to give us a tool to use, as feminist women of color, in times like these. These are the moments we can see clearly, and must honor devotedly, our singular path as women of color in the United States. We are not white women and this truth has been ground into us for centuries, often in brutal ways. ”

“Look closely at the present you are constructing: it should look like the future you are dreaming.”

“The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men.”

“They were women then My mama's generation Husky of voice stout of Step With fists as well as Hands How they battered down Doors And ironed Starched white Shirts How they led Armies Headragged generals Across mined Fields Booby-trapped Ditches To discover books Desks A place for us How they knew what we MUST know Without knowing a page Of it Themselves.”

“We all have to start somewhere if us want to do better, an d out of self is what us have to hand”

“She can have them, Mama," she said, like somebody used to never winning anything, or having anything reserved for her.”