"You cannot define a person on just one thing. 

You can’t just forget all these wonderful and good things that a person has done 

because one thing didn’t come off the way you thought it should come off."

To say that Aretha Franklin was one of the greatest American artists of all time is an understatement, she reigned as the Queen of Soul. 

Her multi-octave voice moved millions around the world during an unrivaled career that spanned six decades and garnered the singer-songwriter every achievement and honor imaginable. 

“Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.”

Mae Carol Jemison is an American engineer, physician, and former NASA astronaut. 

She became the first black woman to travel into space when she served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour.

"If you’re always trying to be NORMAL you will never know how AMAZING you can be."

Maya Angelou was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist, author, actress, screenwriter and dancer.

She was best known for her 1969 memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which made literary history as the first nonfiction bestseller by an African American woman.

"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can."

Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr., was born in Richmond on July 10, 1943. 

He first picked up a tennis racket as a young boy at a segregated playground near his home.

He was an American professional tennis player who won three Grand Slam singles titles. 

Ashe was the first black player selected to the United States Davis Cup team and the only black man ever to win the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open. He retired in 1980

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."

Harriet Tubman was an American abolitionist and political activist. Tubman was born a slave in Maryland's Dorchester County around 1820.

Harriet Tubman is perhaps the most well-known of all the Underground Railroad's "conductors." During a ten-year span, she made 19 trips into the South and escorted over 300 slaves to freedom. And, as she once proudly pointed out to Frederick Douglass, in all of her journeys she "never lost a single passenger."

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. 

Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the Civil Rights Movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. Wikipedia

Born: January 15, 1929, Atlanta, GA

Assassinated: April 4, 1968, Memphis, TN

Famous speech: I Have a Dream

On what would have been her 105th birthday, here is an inspiring quote from Rosa Parks.

“Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today’s mighty oak is yesterday’s nut that held its ground.”

Rosa Parks didn’t set out to become “the first lady of civil rights.” But when she defied Alabama law by refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white passenger on December 1, 1955—and was arrested as a result of it—the impact of her act of defiance was far-reaching, and encouraged others to stand up with her.

During the early weeks of the pandemic as a frontline emergency medicine physician, the morale, mental and emotional health was challenging to all levels of the healthcare team. I discovered a method called the M.A.S.K method which became a daily practice for me.

M~ Meditation, to release toxicity

A~ Affirmationsof self spoken out loud

S~ Sleep at least 7 to 8 hours every 24 hours 

K~ Kindness to self  

Charles Drew was one of America's best physicians because he was the first person to introduce a system for storing blood plasma

 and organizing America's first large-scale blood bank.

Born on June 3, 1904, in Washington, D.C., and died on April 1, 1950.