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February is Black History Month, a month set to observe the history of the movements and achievements of African Americans and their descendants.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

“In my early years, there were a number of experiences that made me decide I could not afford the luxury of just being an actress. There were a number of issues I wanted to address. I wanted to use my career as a platform.”

— Cicely Tyson

“All I want for my children — and I think all you want for yours — is a fair and equal chance and respect for their dignity as human beings. Give us that and we’ll do the rest.”

— Jackie Robinson

“I'm a perfectionist. I'm pretty much insatiable. I feel there's so many things I can improve on.”

— Serena Williams

“We’ve been floating this country on credit for centuries, yo, and we’re done watching and waiting while this invention called whiteness uses and abuses us, burying black people out of sight and out of mind while extracting our culture, our dollars, our entertainment like oil – black gold, ghettoizing and demeaning our creations then stealing them, gentrifying our genius and then trying us on like costumes before discarding our bodies like rinds of strange fruit. The thing is though… the thing is that just because we’re magic doesn’t mean we’re not real.”

— Jesse Williams

“This all started as a love story. And it still is. This love transformed me from a curious, stargazing young girl to a professional astrophysicist, hot on the heels of celestial discovery. Who knew that chasing after the universe would ground me so deeply to my mission here on Earth. Then again, when do we ever know where love's first flutter will truly take us.”

— Jedidah Isler

“Speak up. You have to project! If people can't hear you, it doesn't matter what you say.”

— Freeman A. Hrabowski III

“NASA is an incredible investment for our nation because what we do not only uncovers new knowledge, it helps raise the bar of human achievement.”

— Charles Frank Bolden Jr.

"I believe that higher education is one of the best investments anybody can make in their future."

— Barack Obama  

“If a black man is always cast as the drug dealer but rarely as the righteous successful business man, the conclusion is that it is not believable for a man of color to be inherently good or successful or on the side of righteousness. Good, bad or indifferent, tv helps define our collective reality. If a child grows up never seeing themselves representative as successful or as the hero, then they are the anomaly if they succeed and the expectation if they fail.”

— Yara Shahidi

Follow my blog @unapologeticessence​

To read more of my Black History posts, visit Unapologetic Ingenuity & Luminary Essence - Black History.