2021 was the year that marked a historic milestone in the recognition of African American history, as June 17th 2021 saw Juneteenth become an official holiday recognized by the federal government. Celebrated for over 155 years since that fateful day when tens of thousands heard their freedom announced in Galveston, Texas on June 19th 1865 – which would eventually be called ‘Juneteenth’ – today’s festivities are filled with joyous expressions and meaningful commemorations across America. Let us take time to remember this special event each year, so its rich significance may endure for future generations.
On this day, many of us will observe Juneteenth by attending parades and other celebratory events that honor African American culture, history and heritage. It is also a time to reflect on the struggles and triumphs of our ancestors who fought for freedom and equality in America throughout the years. We join together to remember the dignity, courage and strength of those who fought relentlessly to secure the rights that we now enjoy.
In honor of Juneteenth, we made this article with over 100 quotes to reflect on the historic day. They range from thought-provoking to inspiring and include quotes from notable leaders such as Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barack Obama.
Juneteenth Quotes
- “Say it loud. I’m black and I’m proud!” – James Brown
- “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.” – Fannie Lou Hamer
- “It’s freedom for everybody or freedom for nobody.” – Malcolm X
- “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” – Ida B. Wells-Barnett
- “The pursuit of justice is all I have ever known.” – Harry Belafonte
- “Movements don’t die because struggle doesn’t die.” – Harry Belafonte
- “Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- “Service it the rent that you pay for room on this earth.” – Shirley Chisholm
- “We can’t become what we need to be by remaining what we are.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “I don’t measure America by its achievement but by its potential.” – Shirley Chisholm
- “I got to fight on till I leave here, and I hope I leave some footprints.” – Mattie Jones
- “The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” – Ida B. Wells-Barnett
- “I thrive on obstacles. If I’m told that it can’t be told, then I push harder.” – Issa Rae
- Besides, They’ll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed – I, too, am America. – James Baldwin
- “Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.” – Toni Morrison
- “To be once defeated is to find cause for an everlasting struggle to reach the top.” – Marcus Garvey
- “You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.” – Malcolm X
- “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” – Angela Davis
- “Peace is necessary. For justice, it is necessary. For hope, it is necessary, for our future.” – Harry Belafonte
- “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- “Let us not assume for one moment that our work is done, the struggle for equal justice continues.” – Fred David Gray
- “There are two ways of exerting one’s strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.” – Booker T. Washington
- “We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- “We have simply got to make people aware that none of us are free until we’re all free, and we aren’t free yet.” – Opal Lee
- “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
- “If you dare to struggle, you dare to win. If you dare not struggle, then damn it, you don’t deserve to win.” – Fred Hampton
- “We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- No violence will create peace…To effect change we must show love in the face of hate and peace in the face of violence. – Beyonce
- “Black liberation has never just been about Black people. It’s been about a fight for our humanity, for our dignity.” – Patrisse Cullors
- “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- “I just don’t know how to describe it. I just feel like it’s the beginning of something great, and I want to be a part of it.” – Opal Lee
- “In the end, anti-black, anti-female, and all forms of discrimination are equivalent to the same thing: anti-humanism.” – Shirley Chisholm
- “You need not be afraid to give us our rights for fear we will take too much – for we can’t take more than our pint’ll hold.” – Sojourner Truth
- “We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- “Sometimes we have to do the work even though we don’t yet see a glimmer on the horizon that it’s actually going to be possible.” – Angela Davis
- I had crossed the line. I was free; but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land. – Harriet Tubman
- “Let no voice but your own speak to you from the depths. Let no influence but your own raise you in time of peace and time of war.” – Marcus Garvey
- “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
- “When we show up, act boldly, and practice the best ways to be wrong, we fail forward. No matter where we end up, we’ve grown from where we began.” – Stacey Abrams
- “Whether we are born here or seek refuge here, there’s a place for us all. We must remember it’s not my America or your America. It’s our America.” – Michelle Obama
- “No matter who you are or what you look like, how you started off, or how and who you love, America is a place where you can write your own destiny.” – Barack Obama
- “Civility is the recognition that all people have dignity that’s inherent to their person, no matter their religion race, gender, sexuality or ability.” – Opal Tometi
- “Anger is not a sustainable emotion in and of itself. It has to be transformed into a deep love for the possibility of who we can be.” – Alicia Garza, “Rage Becomes Her”
- “I always tell young people to hold on to their dreams. And sometimes you have to stand up for what you think is right even if you have to stand alone.” – Claudette Colvin
- “You may shoot my with your words / You may cut me with your eyes / You may kill me with your hatefulness / But still, like air, I’ll rise.” – Maya Angelou, “Still I Rise”
- “You cannot take your freedoms for granted. Just like generations who have come before you, you have to do your part to preserve and protect those freedoms.” – Michelle Obama
- “A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of.” – Nelson Mandela
- “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” – Nelson Mandela
- “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” – Barack Obama
- “Human rights are something you were born with. Human rights are your God-given rights. Human rights are the rights that are recognized by all nations of this earth.” – Malcolm X
- “I knew then and I know now, when it comes to justice, there’s no easy way to get it. You can’t sugarcoat it. You have to take a stand and say, ‘This is not right.'” – Claudette Colvin
- “Where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.” – Barack Obama
- “Remember this in the darkest moments, when the work doesn’t seem worth it, and change seems just out of reach: out of our willingness to push through comes a tremendous power.” – Stacey Abrams
- “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- Whether it’s freedom to express, freedom to live, freedom to earn, freedom to thrive, freedom to learn, whatever it is, I want to make sure that I’m a part of these spaces and opening doors. – Angela Rye
- “Release all bitterness. Hold only love, only peace in your heart, knowing that the battle of good to overcome evil is already won.” – John Lewis, “Across That Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change”
- “We are going to get out here, I am going to get out here and get something done. We have to wake up America. We have to make America uncomfortable like we’ve been uncomfortable for 400 years.” – Gwen Carr
- “Today on Juneteenth, the day we celebrate the end of slavery, the day we memorialize those who offered us hope for the future and the day when we renew our commitment to the struggle for freedom.” – Angela Davis
- “Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a better person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- We have suffered discrimination. We have suffered isolation and undermining. But we stand up for America, oftentimes when others who think they are more patriotic, who say they are more patriotic, do not. – Maxine Waters
- Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. – Martin Luther King
- “When day comes we step out of the shade / Aflame and unafraid / The new dawn blooms as we free it / For there is always light / If only we’re brave enough to see it / If only we’re brave enough to be it.” – Amanda Gorman
- “The persistence of violent white nationalism – these things have deep ugly roots, inextricably tied to slavery and its aftermath. We will be better off unearthing it and airing it out if we really want repair.” – Joy Reid
- “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- “We black folk, our history, and our present being are a mirror of all the manifold experiences of America. What we want, what we represent, what we endure is what America is. If we black folk perish, America will perish.” – Richard Wright
- “Our strength lies in the fact that we are supported by the majority of Americans. And our motivation lies in our obligation to make sure their voices are heard and acknowledged by those who set public policy in this country.” – Faye Wattleton
- “What makes America exceptional are the bonds that hold together the most diverse nation on earth. The belief that our destiny is shared; that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future generations.” – Barack Obama
- “To the children of our country, regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message: Dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourself in a way that others might not see you, simply because they’ve never seen it before.” – Kamala Harris
- “Juneteenth has never been a celebration of victory or an acceptance of the way things are. It’s a celebration of progress. It’s an affirmation that despite the most painful parts of our history, change is possible – and there is still so much work to do.” – Barack Obama
- “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” – Nelson Mandela
- “What I love about #Juneteenth is that even in that extended wait, we still find something to celebrate. Even though the story has never been tidy, and Black folks have had to march and fight for every inch of our freedom, our story is nonetheless one of progress.” – Michelle Obama
- My fellow Americans, this is a special moment in our history. Just as people of all faiths and no faiths, and all backgrounds, creeds, and colors banded together decades ago to fight for equality and justice in a peaceful, orderly, nonviolent fashion, we must do so again. – John Lewis
- “I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?” – Sojourner Truth
- “Juneteenth was a promise that was broken. Reconstruction failed and this country has continued to wage war on the Black body. Juneteenth also embodies the resilience of Black people. Even in the face of a broken system, we choose to find joy in resistance and celebrate in community.” – Obrian Rosario
- “People say I talk so slow today. That’s no surprise. I calculated I’ve taken 29,000 punches. But I earned $57 million and I saved half of it. So I took a few hard knocks. Do you know how many black men are killed every year by guns and knives without a penny to their names? I may talk slow, but my mind is OK.” – Muhammed Ali
- “Ours is not the struggle of one day, one week or one year. Ours is not the struggle of one judicial appointment or presidential term. Ours is the struggle of a lifetime, or maybe even many lifetimes, and each one of us in every generation must do our part.” – John Lewis, “Across That Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change”
- “Juneteenth has become a newly but proudly embraced commemoration in my family and we have been exploring the ways in which we want to experience and culturally embrace the date (and beyond).. Juneteenth is another moment for me and my loved ones to build an archive of truth and experience of (ourselves) Black folks.” – Tatiana Glover
- “Every Black person you meet is a MIRACLE. We are descended of lineages meant to be destroyed by slavery or colonization. Our lives are hard-fought and hard-earned. We are priceless. We are valuable because of our humanity-and declared valuable because our ancestors declared our worth when they fought for us to live.” – Brittany Packnett Cunningham
- “The 4th of July was never about Black people. Juneteenth is just for us. As Black people, we are told we don’t deserve our own holidays rooted in our own history. Everything is whitewashed. Juneteenth is for us…Juneteenth symbolizes the hope that my children and grandchildren will be free. It’s Black Joy and Black tenacity to survive.” – Tanesha Grant
- “I am standing on the shoulders of my own role models, generations of Americans who never had anything close to this kind of opportunity but who got up every day and went to work believing in the promise of America, showing others through their determination and, yes, their perseverance that good, good things can be done in this great country.” – Ketanji Brown Jackson
- “Our watchword has been “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” Brave men do not gather by thousands to torture and murder a single individual, so gagged and bound he cannot make even feeble resistance or defense. Neither do brave men and women stand by and see such things done without compunction of conscience, nor read of them without protest.” – Ida B. Wells-Barnett
- “Slavery did NOT end via the efforts of a multiracial movement of abolitionists (many of them white). Federal officials created the discourse of freedom and removed slaves from the shackles of slavery in order for slaves to work, and “the freed slaves needed to work so that the North would not assume that they would carry the financial burden of the decimated Southern economy.” – Ericka Hart
- “It is true that Mr. Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, after which there was a commitment to give 40 acres and a mule. That’s where the argument, to this day, of reparations starts. We never got the 40 acres. We went all the way to Herbert Hoover, and we never got the 40 acres. We didn’t get the mule. So we decided we’d ride this donkey as far as it would take us.” – Rev Al. Sharpton
- “But what a feeling can come over a man just from seeing the things he believes in and hopes for symbolized in the concrete form of a man. In something that gives a focus to all the other things he knows to be real. Something that makes unseen things manifest and allows him to come to his hopes and dreams through his outer eye and through the touch and feel of his natural hand.” – Ralph Ellison, Juneteenth
- “The day we were free – everyone was free. Why not make it a paid holiday? We deserve that…We want a day that is inclusive to everyone.” – Pharrell Williams
- “There’s no other race, to me, that has such a tough history for hundreds and hundreds of years, and only the strong survive, so we were the strongest and the most mentally tough, and I’m really proud to wear this color every single day of my life.” – Serena Williams”
- “The American education system has taught us as children that Black people have history in pain and survival. They have failed to teach us our history in joy, success, innovations and so much more. Juneteenth is a reclaim on our history that has been stolen. Juneteenth is greater to us than a Fourth of July or Christmas because it represents our culture, resilience, and deserving respect from a country WE built.” – Nia White
- “I prayed for freedom for twenty years, but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.” – Frederick Douglass
- “Women who fought and sacrificed so much for equality and liberty and just for all, including Black women who are often, too often overlooked, but so often prove they are the backbone of our democracy.” – Kamala Harris
- I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free… so other people would be also free.”” – Rosa Parks”
- “Emancipation wasn’t a gift bestowed on the slaves; it was something they took for themselves, the culmination of their long struggle for freedom, which began as soon as chattel slavery was established in the 17th century, and gained even greater steam with the Revolution and the birth of a country committed, at least rhetorically, to freedom and equality. In fighting that struggle, black Americans would open up new vistas of democratic possibility for the entire country.” – Jamelle Bouie
- “Studying the blueprints of liberation, one can map out the ways we as The Global African Diaspora have continued to resist and exist under regimes of antiBlack terror. Since the development of racial capitalism, the use of African peoples as capital, our ancestors have always fought for freedom. Our history doesn’t begin with slavery, but our future depends on us ending the mechanisms of it. Juneteenth is an extension of that abolitionist spirit where we march forth in reflection of the struggle.” – Brandon Gonzalez
- “Juneteenth is a date that recognizes the end of slavery in the United States. Although Juneteenth is not a day that is celebrated in the UK, it is still a reminder of the injustices black people endured. Juneteenth is important to me because till this day black people are still subject to racial injustice on a global scale, and are still victims of racial abuse regardless of where they are from. Juneteenth allows us to remember how far black people have progressed since and it is a reminder of the strength we have within us.” – Bethel Kyeza
- “America has looted black people. America looted the Native Americans when they first came here, looting is what you do. We learned it from you. We learned violence from you. If you want us to do better, then damnit, you do better.” – Tamika Mallory
- “Juneteenth means so much to me. It represents the freedom that my ancestors fought so tirelessly for. But rather than focusing on the brutalization of my people then and now. I choose to focus on hope. June 19th reminds me that I am the force of power to change this world and to follow in the footsteps of my ancestors to work towards liberation.” – Mariah Cooley
- “Juneteenth to me means a lot. When we think about the African Diaspora and the history rooted in America and freedom for African Americans it serves a reminder that there are people before us that have fought for liberation. It shows that even after the emancipation proclamation was signed in 1863 African Americans still were not liberated. It redefined what liberation meant for the African American community here in the US. It showed that our liberation comes from us. Liberation lies within us and will not be formed from the current institutional structures we have in place for it never has.” – Fatimata Cham
- “Juneteenth may mark just one moment in the struggle for emancipation, but the holiday gives us an occasion to reflect on the profound contributions of enslaved Black Americans to the cause of human freedom. It gives us another way to recognize the central place of slavery and its demise in our national story. And it gives us an opportunity to remember that American democracy has more authors than the shrewd lawyers and erudite farmer-philosophers of the Revolution, that our experiment in liberty owes as much to the men and women who toiled in bondage as it does to anyone else in this nation’s history.” – Jamelle Bouie
- “You may kill me with your hatefulness. But still, like air, I’ll rise.” – Maya Angelou
- “Emancipation was as a result of dedication, hard work, speaking up, and speaking out. For people like me who believe in speaking up and speaking out, for times when we feel overwhelmed, or that laws and the world is moving backwards, it gives me hope. These landmarks from emancipation to the end of segregation and enactment of laws that push us one step closer to equality for all gives me hope. I remain aware that laws alone don’t cause the change, but they give a backing, a recognition, I believe is so important.” – Sikemi Okunrinboye
- “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color. – Colin Kaepernick”
- “Juneteenth reminds me of Black freedom dreams, my freedom dreams. In 1865, the port city of Galveston, Texas, or the land formerly known as Mexico as I call it, where so much blood, Indigenous blood, Mexican and Tejano blood, Black blood had been shed, there was a freedom ring that was heard across the world. I hear that ring still and it is a reminder that I stand on others’ shoulders and I, like my ancestors – my Mascogo, Afro-Seminole, African and Black ancestors – who honor Juneteenth with me, will have to prepare a place for the generations that come after so they may experience more joy, more rest, more freedom; so they may experience liberation. Juneteenth represents liberation and it belongs to us. It is a constant reminder that Black freedom is predestined, that only we can tell our stories and that there is no freedom, without Black freedom.” – Dannese Mapanda
- “On this day, June 19, 1865, Black people’s complete personhood was acknowledged on a systemic level for the very first time. It dates the moment African-Americans, Caribbean-Americans, and Afro-immigrants alike could begin to, on some level, participate in and see themselves as part of a whole society. Since the passage of the 13th amendment, Black Americans like Shirley Chisolm have trail-blazed the socio-political world, creating a place for women like me to feel empowered in sharing my voice and stories with the world. As a woman of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated and a member of the Divine 9, Juneteenth is also a time for me to acknowledge the ancestry of my founders and the experiences that led them to create our beloved sorority and to fight for the inclusion of black women in every space. I am humbled to share in the legacy of Juneteenth and understand that this becomes my fight to continue.” – Brianna Taylor
Wrapping Up
Juneteenth is a reminder of all the immense sacrifices, efforts, and courage that have been made by black people throughout history to gain their freedom. It is a day to remember and celebrate the power of resilience and determination in the face of adversity. Juneteenth offers an opportunity for us to learn from our past and continue striving toward creating a better future for ourselves and our children. By honoring the legacy of Juneteenth, we can continue to build on these lessons and strive for a more just and equitable society for everyone. Let us remember, remember well, why Juneteenth matters. Let us honor those who have come before us in their fight for freedom and justice. May we all continue to work together towards a brighter future that celebrates and uplifts the contributions of all people.
