Quote of the Day: Billie Holiday on Enslavement

You can read this quote from Billie Holiday, from her book Lady Sings the Blues (1956), in Bartlett’s Familiar Black Quotations. Read the quote in its full context here. Suggested Reading 2026 NAACP Image Awards Best Moments and Surprises The Most Positive Events That Happened During Black History Month Do You Know The History of Go-Go Music, The Sound That…

You can read this quote from Billie Holiday, from her book Lady Sings the Blues (1956), in Bartlett’s Familiar Black Quotations. Read the quote in its full context here.

Video will return here when scrolled back into view
Angela Bassett Reveals the Mission: Impossible Birthday Surprise That Got Tom Cruise Dancing

Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and founding director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is also the editor-in-chief of The Root. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

Straight From The Root

Sign up for our free daily newsletter.