#avery

The drone in my ear, it’s like the tornado drill in elementary school, the hand-cranked siren that rang mercilessly, all of us hunched over on ourselves, facing the basement walls, heads tucked into our chests. Beth and me wedged tight, jeaned legs pressed against each other. The sounds of our own breathing. Before we all stopped believing a tornado, or anything, could touch us, ever ↗

— Megan Abbott

#bravery #friendship #stength #friendship

I think a commission set up to examine slavery and the consequences of it, would probably be a very fruitful, important dialogue for the United States to be involved in. ↗

— Bob Matsui

#consequences #dialogue #examine #fruitful #i

For those who know the value of and exquisite taste of solitary freedom (for one is only free when alone), the act of leaving is the bravest and most beautiful of all. ↗

— Isabelle Eberhardt

#freedom #inspirational #loneliness #solitude #beauty

The first time he had taken the massa to one of these "high-falutin' to-dos," as Bell called them, Kunta had been all but overwhelmed by conflicting emotions: awe, indignation, envy, contempt, fascination, revulsion—but most of all a deep loneliness and melancholy from which it took him almost a week to recover. He couldn't believe that such incredible wealth actually existed, that people really lived that way. It took him a long time, and a great many more parties, to realize that they didn't live that way, that it was all strangely unreal, a kind of beautiful dream the white folks were having, a lie they were telling themselves: that goodness can come from badness, that it's possible to be civilized with one another without treating as human beings those whose blood, sweat, and mother's milk made possible the life of privilege they led. ↗

— Alex Haley

#privilege #slavery #wealth #beauty

Government is nothing more than the combined force of society or the united power of the multitude for the peace, order, safety, good, and happiness of the people... There is no king or queen bee distinguished from all the others by size or figure or beauty and variety of colors in the human hive. No man has yet produced any revelation from heaven in his favor, any divine communication to govern his fellow men. Nature throws us all into the world equal and alike... The preservation of liberty depends upon the intellectual and moral character of the people. As long as knowledge and virtue are diffused generally among the body of a nation it is impossible they should be enslaved. Ambition is one of the more ungovernable passions of the human heart. The love of power is insatiable and uncontrollable... There is a danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living wth power to endanger public liberty. ↗

— David McCullough

#government #liberty #slavery #beauty

As legal slavery passed, we entered into a permanent period of unemployment and underemployment from which we have yet to emerge. ↗

— Julian Bond

#entered #into #legal #passed #period

Slavery can only be abolished by raising the character of the people who compose the nation; and that can be done only by showing them a higher one. ↗

— Maria Weston Chapman

#compose #done #higher #nation #only

The Soul of man is made an article of merchandize by his fellow man and can such a land be happy? No! Happyness does not dwell in any land that is scard by the blighting curse of Slavery. ↗

— Ezra Cornell

#article #be happy #curse #does #dwell

It states, History should be regarded as a means for understanding the past and solving the challenges of the future. It also suggests that this celebration of the end of slavery is an important and enriching part of the history and heritage of the United States. ↗

— Mark Foley

#celebration #challenges #end #enriching #future

I believe that the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity is daring to dare. ↗

— Maya Angelou

#courage #courage