Recently I had the opportunity to visit the newly opened National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. It easily takes its rightful place as one of the most moving experiences I have ever had. My words cannot do it justice no matter how hard I will them to. Everything from the architecture to the atmosphere made me feel a range from the deepest of disgusts to the sweetest of victories.

The museum covered times in our nation's history that cried for remembrance since their inception. Walking through history from the slave trades of the 1400s to the election of Barack Obama in 2008 was nothing less than powerful. So today, on the day we celebrate the life of a man who did so much to create that history (Dr. Martin Luther King), I want to remember and uplift the voices of so many others who also did so much to create and preserve that history.

1. "We don't want anyone to swear for us or to vote for us; we want those privileges for ourselves." -William H. Grey, 1868

2. "[Race is] both an empty category and one of the most destructive and powerful forms of social categorization" -Toni Morrison, Race-ing Justice, En-Gendering Power, 1992

3. "You can't effectively fight abusive power, poverty, inequality, illness, oppression, or injustice and not be broken by it." -Bryan Stevenson

4. "I, Too" by Langston Hughes

“I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.

Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.”

5. "No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck." -Frederick Douglas

6. "It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences." -Audre Lorde

7. "I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color." -Malcolm X

8. "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'what are you doing for others?'" - Dr. Martin Luther King