"Learning how to be still, to really be still, and let life happen - that stillness becomes a radiance."~ Morgan Freeman

"My approach to acting is that I am totally intuitive. I read the script and I get it. If I don't get it, I can't do it."~ Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman is an American actor, director, and narrator. He has appeared in a range of film genres portraying character roles and is particularly known for his distinctive deep voice. With an authoritative voice and calm demeanor, this ever-popular American actor has grown into one of the most respected ...

Freeman is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award

Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.~Wilma Rudolph

 Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday.~ Wilma Rudolph

Wilma Rudolph was an American sprinter, the first American woman to win three track-and-field gold medals in a single Olympics.

 Her victories were in the 100-meter in the 200-meter dash and as a member of the 4 × 100-meter relay team.

She was the 20th of 22 children. As a young child, she was paralyzed by polio and contracted both scarlet fever and double pneumonia. Many doctors felt she would never walk again, yet she always believed otherwise. By the time she was 12, she had regained her ability to walk and took up athletics.

There can be no conquest to the man who dwells in the narrow and small environment of a groveling life, and there can be no vision to the man the horizon of whose vision is limited by the bounds of self. But the great things of the world, the great accomplishments of the world, have been achieved by men who had high ideals and who have received great visions. The path is not easy, the climbing is rugged and hard, but the glory at the end is worthwhile.”   

Matthew Henson was one of the era's few African American explorers, and he may have been the first man, black or white, to North Pole. He accompanied Robert Peary on seven voyages to the Arctic over a period of nearly 23 years. They spent a total of 18 years on expeditions together.

“The difference between being an amazing technician and being a soloist or principal is mastering those interpretive flourishes to tell the best story. Otherwise, you aren’t a ballerina—you’re just another dancer.”

Misty Copeland made history as the first African American Female Principal Dancer with the prestigious American Ballet Theatre. 

When she discovered ballet, however, Misty was living in a shabby motel room, struggling with her five siblings for a place to sleep on the floor

Copeland received the 2008 Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Arts and was named National Youth of the Year Ambassador for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in 2013.  In 2014, President Obama appointed Copeland to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition.  

She is the recipient of a 2014 Dance Magazine Award and was named to the 2015 TIME 100 by TIME Magazine.  Copeland is the author of the best-selling memoir, Life in Motion, children’s book Firebird and Ballerina Body.

“I read from the Bible every day, and I read my Daily Word, I read something great yesterday. It said, ‘Don’t aspire to make a living. Aspire to make a difference.~ Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington. is an American actor, director, and producer. He has been described as an actor who reconfigured "the concept of classic movie stardom", associating with characters defined by their grace, dignity, humanity, and inner strength. He made his first big-screen appearance in Carbon Copy (1981) with George Segal. Through the 1980s, he worked in both movies and television and was chosen for the plum role of Dr. Philip Chandler in NBC's hit medical series St. Elsewhere (1982), a role that he would play for six years. 

"Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew."~ Cicely Tyson 

Cicely Tyson refused to take parts that demeaned Black people and won a Tony, Emmys, and an honorary Oscar. In a remarkable career of seven decades, Ms. Tyson broke ground for serious Black actors by refusing to take parts that demeaned Black people. 

She urged Black colleagues to do the same and often went without work. She was critical of films and television programs that cast Black characters as criminal, servile or immoral, and insisted that African-Americans, even if poor or downtrodden, should be portrayed with dignity.

“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don't wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.”~ Barack Obama

Barack Obama is an American politician and attorney who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017.

Obama was the first African-American president of the United States

"Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you."~ Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. Her full name is Orpah Gayle Winfrey. That’s right, Orpah, not Oprah.

Born in rural Mississippi in 1954, she was named after a biblical figure in the Book of Ruth.

When no one knew how to spell or pronounce it properly, they started calling her Oprah instead. 

Dubbed the "Queen of All Media", North America's first black multi-billionaire, and she has been ranked the greatest black philanthropist in American history.[9][10] 

"All these boundaries - Africa, Asia, Malaysia, America - are set by men. 

But you don't have to look at boundaries when you are looking at a man - at the character of a man. 

The question is: What do you stand for? Are you a follower, or are you a leader?"~ Hakeem Olajuwon

Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon is a Nigerian-American former professional basketball player. He is considered to be one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He was nicknamed "The Dream" during his basketball career after he dunked so effortlessly that his college coach said it "looked like a dream.

"I'd rather see if I can help a child than settle an argument between adults over money" ~Jane Bolin

Jane Matilda Bolin, LL.B. (April 11, 1908 – January 8, 2007) was the first black woman to graduate from Yale Law School, the first to join the New York City Bar Association, and the first to join the New York City Law Department. She became the first black woman to serve as a judge in the United States when she was sworn into the bench of the New York City Domestic Relations Court in 1939.