African Women Quotes

“Most people write me off when they see me.
They do not know my story.
They say I am just an African.
They judge me before they get to know me.
What they do not know is
The pride I have in the blood that runs through my veins;
The pride I have in my rich culture and the history of my people;
The pride I have in my strong family ties and the deep connection to my community;
The pride I have in the African music, African art, and African dance;
The pride I have in my name and the meaning behind it.
Just as my name has meaning, I too will live my life with meaning.
So you think I am nothing?
Don’t worry about what I am now,
For what I will be, I am gradually becoming.
I will raise my head high wherever I go
Because of my African pride,
And nobody will take that away from me.”
― idowu koyenikan, Wealth for all Africans: How Every African Can Live the Life of Their Dreams

“You can no longer see or identify yourself solely as a member of a tribe, but as a citizen of a nation of one people working toward a common purpose.”
― idowu koyenikan, Wealth for all Africans: How Every African Can Live the Life of Their Dreams

“It was always the best way of finding out information; just go and ask a woman who keeps her eyes and ears open and who likes to talk. It always worked. It was no use asking men; they simply were not interested enough in other people and the ordinary doings of people. That is why the real historians of Africa had always been the grandmothers, who remembered the lineage and the stories that went with it.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Kalahari Typing School for Men

“From the darkness we become stars, we behold the misery and mystery from the worlds we possess and build up fire from the glow and coils of our black souls, the Sun.”
― Goitsemang Mvula

“you’ve used vaseline your whole life

&put olive oil on your eyelashes before bed

even your make up brushes line up for you

bc you saw sultans that had nothing but camels”
― Malab, The Komorébi, The Breast Mountains Of All Time

“Each chapter in MissBehave is about navigating life as a black woman and all encounters that led me to espouse feminist ideals”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“Your smile tells me you have arrived at your God's appointed life destination where even you a belated princess will thrive”
― Fidelis O. Mkparu, Love's Affliction

“I spent years avoiding sex with guys because I didn’t want anyone to gossip about me. I wish I had realized sooner that no matter what I did guys would claim to have fucked me every which way under the sun.”
― Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah, The Sex Lives of African Women: Self-Discovery, Freedom, and Healing

“There are so many African women who are sources of feminist inspiration. Because of what they have done and because of what they have refused to do.”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

“She told me as I sat frightened like a mouse, just like you, 'A woman's body follows the moon. It is not still and hard like a man's. Her happiness and sadness take many forms; each day the brightness of her light and the mysterious depths of her shadows may change. A woman is close to the earth yet near to the heavens. She grows like the harvest; she becomes ripe like fruit. When, after many children, my son looks at you and asks where is the beauty of your youth, tell him these words. The body of your youth stays with your youth, and the body of the harvest, that is the body of your later years. Look at nature, how she dresses herself for every season. In the summer, she adorns herself as fields of rose and pink blooms, with fruits of peach, mango, and lemon, and as the season cools, she, too, dresses in darker hues of brown, maroon, and gold, and in the rains she is all gray mist and stormy blues. A woman must always be proud and look after herself.' Those are principles we follow forever, even us old ones.”
― Nozipo Maraire, Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter