Katherine Dunham Quotes

I want to give my daughter that Caribbean influence. But also, just being a black girl in this country, I want her to grow up with culture and confidence, and with love.

We are trying to construct a more inclusive society. We are going to make a country in which no one is left out.

America is grappling with cultural diversity, and I just want to put a show on that represents the world in which I live.

I don't want a Black History Month. Black history is American history.

I've been marching in every single ethnic nationality parade all throughout the City of New York. We're all Americans first and foremost, but people understand their heritage and it's good to see.

You want schools to teach reading and writing. But you also want schools to reflect who you are and your values.

There are only two positions, either you support multiculturalism in American education, or you support the maintenance of white supremacy.

The challenge facing America in the next century will be the shaping, at long last, of a truly common public culture, one responsive to the long silenced cultures of color.

It's important for youth, black youths particularly, to be able to fill in the blanks of themselves so they can know completely who they are, but also all the country to understand what this means: what the civil rights movement does to us as people. It is part of the journey that we must be on in order to become fully evolved human beings.

African-Americans have a lot to teach the world.

I learned about poise and dignity, and I learned about what it means to be an African-American in television and what that requires in terms of what kind of position you take for yourself and how you define your own reality in a world that is still finding its footing, to say the least.

The last thing I want to do with my platform is bash another young black man who is getting money.

Asian-Americans are fighting for space and fighting for visibility and for acceptance.

I am a black woman, and my experiences would not be what they are if I wasn't. I'm so happy to share those experiences for other people to be able to learn from them.

It's actually OK to be unique and have your own contributions, to celebrate what it means to be black, how we've survived and thrived through the worst conditions possible.

Black culture is pop culture, Black History Month is every month, and that's something they want us to forget. What better way to remember than to highlight all of our differences as a singular people across the globe?

I think that is what all ethnic actors aspire to - to just play a woman who falls in love, or works as a clerk, or whatever - and then, if you want to, to have that luxury to bring in the cultural heritage.

Most of all, we should remember all of us are capable of individually helping advance the spirit of equality for all.

It's always good to be around people who get it and understand because it's a huge difference working on a black set. I can walk on a black set and not have to worry about my hair because they know.

It is my hope that as we commemorate Black History Month in the future, we will continue to celebrate the many achievements and rich culture of African-Americans.

Personally, I believe in self-determination, but in the context of one South Africa - so that my self-determination is based in this region, and with my people.

One of the greatest gifts of Black feminism to ourselves has been to make it a little easier simply to be Black and female.

I feel a responsibility to continue creating complex roles for black women, especially young black women.

I give a speech to the black freshmen at Harvard each year, and I say, 'You can like Mozart and ice hockey...' - and then I used to say 'golf,' but Tiger took over golf! - 'and Picasso and still be as black as the ace of spades.'

The common denominator all Latinos have is that we want some respect. That's what we're all fighting for.