Women’s History Month may be an annual celebration of the power and inspiration that women possess, but to be clear, women should always be celebrated.
However, in the spirit of highlighting the unwavering strength that women possess and the inspiration that their varying journeys throughout life resonate with others, here is a list of 10 Quotes from Powerful Black Women to keep handy when you need a quick reminder that #BlackGirlMagic is readily among us.
In April 2025, Tracee Ellis Ross shared her most revealing comments to date regarding being single and child-free in her 50s, during a conversation on the podcast IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson. The actress opened up about grieving the life she dreamed up with marriage, and coming to the acceptance of her reality.
“As much as grief does surface for me around not having children and not having a partner, I still wouldn’t want the wrong partner,” Ross said. “At all, I’m not interested in that. You have to make my life better, it can’t just be ‘I’m in a relationship just to be in a relationship.”
“Even though the grief does emerge and that comes and I hold that, I think of what I’ve done. I think I woke up every morning trying to do my best. I didn’t wake up one morning and be like I’m gonna mess this day up,” she continued.
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“So I must be where I’m supposed to be,” the Black-ish star added. “And I don’t know, sometimes I think of all of the things I’ve done—the courage I’ve had to have, what I had to learn to navigate as a single person with no one to hide behind. And it’s built a really beautiful experience around me and I have incredible friends.”
While promoting her 2022 book, The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times, forever First Lady Michelle Obama spoke in an in-depth overview about a variety of topics, but her message to the young generation was one of the standout moments.
“It’s easy to look at what your predecessors have done and to say, ‘Not enough. Why not – why not faster? Why not better, why not bigger?’ And what I say is, young people aren’t wrong to feel that,” Obama said.
“And that’s why folks need to get out of the way and pass on the power to the next generation…But in the meantime, what I’d urge young people to do is be rageful, and own it,” she said.
“But have a plan,” Obama continued. “Make sure that what you say is really what you mean and how you feel over the long term and not just today.”
Kerry Washington made a triumphant return to her Alma mater, George Washington University, when she was selected to give the 2013 commencement address. Her moving 16-minute speech is filled with a host of quotes to live by, sure to inspire a myriad of people regardless of where they may currently be on their life’s journey.
“When you leave here today and commence the next stage of your life, you can follow someone else’s script, try to make choices that will make other people happy, avoid discomfort, do what is expected, and copy the status quo,” Washington said.
“Or you can look at all that you have accomplished today and use it as fuel to venture forth and write your own story. If you do, amazing things will take shape,” she added.
In her now-viral 1982 interview where she speaks with unwavering honesty about love and compromise in a relationship, legendary actress Eartha Kitt gave women around the world words to live by.
Kitt doesn’t mince words when asked her thoughts on compromising in a relationship. “Compromise? What is compromising? Compromising for what? Compromising for what reason? To compromise? For what? A man comes into my life, and I have to compromise?”
“A relationship is a relationship that has to be earned. Not to be compromised for,” she said. “And that love relationship certainly is fantastic. I think they are wonderful, I think they are great. There’s nothing in the world more beautiful than falling in love.”
“But falling in love for the right reason,” Kitt continued. “Falling in love for the right purpose. Falling in love. Falling in love. When you fall in love… What is there to compromise about? I fall in love with myself. And I want someone to share it with me. I want someone to share me, with me.”
As the 2015 honoree for Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year, tennis icon Serena Williams gave a riveting acceptance speech that was filled with messages of women empowerment.
“For all the ladies out there, yes we can do it,” Williams said to a packed audience. “My hope by winning this award [is that I] can inspire many, many, many more women … to stand right here on this podium and accept another ‘Sportsperson of the Year,’ so yes ladies it can be done.”
“I’ve had people look down on me, put me down because I didn’t look like them — I look stronger,” she said of the discrimination and body-shaming she received throughout her legendary career.”
Viola Davis is largely regarded as one of the most talented actresses of her generation, so when she made history at the 2015 Emmy Awards by becoming the first Black woman to win Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, fans were eagerly awaiting her acceptance speech — and she didn’t disappoint.
Her words were incredibly moving, as she also took time out of her special moment to honor her fellow Black actresses.
“‘In my mind, I see a line. And over that line, I see green fields and lovely flowers and beautiful white women with their arms stretched out to me over that line. But I can’t seem to get there no how. I can’t seem to get over that line,’” Davis began by quoting Harriet Tubman.
“That was Harriet Tubman in the 1800s. And let me tell you something: The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity,” she said. “You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.”
Angela Bassett has given many empowering speeches throughout her incredible career, but one of the most inspiring that resonated with many women was her 2019 acceptance speech at BET’s Black Girls Rock! where she was the recipient of the ICON award.
“There will be times when you will face insurmountable obstacles, but that’s when you dig deep down within your soul for the courage and fortitude to keep going—and never forget that despite life’s detours, you are destined for greatness,” the iconic actress said.
“When you’re told you’re not good enough, you tell them not only am I good enough. I’m more than enough. When they say, send her back home. You tell them, I am home. I am the foundation of what WE call home,” Bassett continued.
“When they tell you that you’re angry or nasty, you tell them that they’re mistaken. This is me,” she added. “This is me being resolute and standing firmly in my truth. When they say, you’re not beautiful. You tell them that you are the descendant of royalty. You are a Queen.”
You could write dozens of books with the quotes of Dr. Maya Angelou, as the famed poet, is one of the most significant figures in American history, who has always proudly embraced the beauty, pain and struggle of the Black woman.
Instead of rounding up one quote, the words of perhaps her most notable poem, Phenomenal Woman, summarize her power and brilliance best.
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them,
They say they still can’t see.
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing,
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need for my care.
’Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Oprah Winfrey has been inspiring Black women for decades, as her self-titled daytime talk show broke barriers and her subsequent endeavors such as O Magazine and the OWN network continued her purpose.
When she was chosen to give the 2012 commencement address at Spelman College, as expected, Winfrey’s nearly 30-minute speech was filled with words that many will take with them forever.
“You’re going to walk out of here with a crown today that has been paid for not just by you and your four years, but paid for by the blood from the lynchings, the tears and the sweat from the toil in the trials, and the sorrows from the burdens and the weariness paid for by the sit-ins and by the setbacks,” she said.
“And paid for by those who, in the words of Sterling Brown, strong men kept coming on stronger, strong men getting stronger, paid for,” the former talk show host said. “In the words of Langston Hughes, by those who knew that life wasn’t going to be no crystal stair. It was going to have tax in it and places on the floor ban.”
“All the time, they would keep climbing on and reaching landings and going in the dark where there wasn’t no light because even though they hadn’t experienced it or tasted freedom, they knew they were planting seeds of the tree that would bear the fruit that is now you. This is their day as well,” Winfrey continued.
“And so today you get to fulfill the dream of the great-great-grandmothers who said, I may not get there, but my great-great-granddaughter may one day walk across a stage called Spelman as a liberated woman, as a liberated, educated woman. Today’s your day,” she added. “Never forget that you did not do this by yourself.”
As the recipient of both the Nobel and Pulitzer Prize, Toni Morrison is one of the greatest authors in the history of the written word, whose works and words have consistently acted as blueprints to follow.
However, one of the most shining examples of her greatness were her comments on racism in 1993, while speaking to Charlie Rose.
“If I take your race away, and there you are, all strung out. And all you got is your little self, and what is that? What are you without racism? Are you any good? Are you still strong? Are you still smart? Do you still like yourself? I mean, these are the questions,” Morrison said.
“Part of it is, ‘yes, the victim. How terrible it’s been for Black people.’ I’m not a victim,” she continued. “I refuse to be one… if you can only be tall because somebody is on their knees, then you have a serious problem. And my feeling is that white people have a very, very serious problem and they should start thinking about what they can do about it. Take me out of it.”
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