Baltimore Ethical Society

10/14/2026

Toni Morrison (1931–2019) stands as one of the most influential American writers of the 20th century. Her novels center the African American experience with rare depth, lyricism, and moral force. From her debut *The Bluest Eye* (1970), which examined the destructive effects of internalized racism on a young Black girl, through *Sula*, *Song of Solomon*, and the monumental *Beloved* (1987), Morrison explored slavery’s long shadow, the complexities of community and identity, and the power of language to both wound and heal.

*Beloved*, inspired by the true story of Margaret Garner, a fugitive slave who killed her child rather than see her returned to bo***ge, earned Morrison the Pulitzer Prize and remains her most celebrated work. In *Jazz* (1992) she experimented with narrative form, mirroring the improvisational structure of the music itself.

In 1993 the Swedish Academy awarded her the Nobel Prize in Literature, citing novels “characterized by visionary force and poetic import” that “give life to an essential aspect of American reality.” She became the first Black woman to receive the prize. The award recognized not only her artistic achievement but also her restoration of Black lives, histories, and voices to the center of American literature. Morrison’s work continues to shape how readers understand race, memory, and the possibilities of storytelling.

10/14/2026

"When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too." - Paulo Coelho

The work we do on ourselves is a quiet form of generosity to others, extending outward in ways we can't always see.

10/12/2026

"We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails." - Dolly Parton

As Humanists, we don't put our faith in perfect conditions, but in the human capacity to work with what's there. Where in your life could a small adjustment make a meaningful difference?

10/09/2026

"In this world, a good time to laugh is any time you can." - Linda Ellerbee

Life will always give you reasons not to, so try to laugh anyway; it's one of our most underrated (and human) forms of resilience!

10/07/2026

"Whenever I nodded along in ignorance, I lost an opportunity, betrayed the wonder in me by privileging the appearance of knowing over the work of finding out." - Ta-Nehisi Coates

Every unasked question is a small surrender of curiosity.

10/05/2026

"Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world...would do this, it would change the earth." - William Faulkner

10/02/2026

"Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you; spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life." - Amy Poehler

Belonging to the right kind of community has a way of making us more curious, more courageous, and more alive.

Get Involved Local Groups GET INVOLVED Find Your Local Group Every group in our network looks and operates differently, but all share our vision for building a more compassionate world. Humanist organizers have made remarkable differences in their communities – and you can too. Explore related pag...

09/30/2026

"How much good inside a day? Depends how good you live 'em." - Shel Silverstein

The present moment is the only place in time where life can actually be lived. Pause and ask yourself: am I showing up with attention and intention

09/29/2026

"If you possess enough courage to speak out what you are, you will find that you are not alone." - Richard Wright

Your honesty could be exactly what someone else needs to hear to feel less isolated in their own struggle.

09/25/2026

Maya Angelou spent years refusing to speak.

Then her voice became one of the most recognizable in American literature.

Angelou endured sexual abuse as a child. After the man who assaulted her was killed following his release from jail, the young Maya believed that speaking his name had somehow caused his death.

She stopped speaking to almost everyone for years.

But she kept reading.

She absorbed poetry and literature until a teacher, Bertha Flowers, encouraged her to understand that poetry had to be spoken aloud to truly come alive.

Eventually, Angelou found her voice again.

And she used it.

Before becoming internationally famous as a writer, her life crossed extraordinary boundaries. She worked as a streetcar conductor in San Francisco, performed professionally as a singer and dancer, lived abroad and became involved in the civil-rights movement.

Then, in 1969, she published *I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings*.

The memoir confronted childhood, racism, sexual violence, identity and survival with a directness that helped make Angelou internationally known.

But perhaps no work captured her defiance more powerfully than her 1978 poem *Still I Rise*.

“You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies…”

Then came the answer:

“But still, like dust, I’ll rise.”

The poem doesn't pretend suffering never happened.

That's precisely why it hits so hard.

Angelou writes about being pushed down, hated, wounded and burdened by history, then repeatedly returns to the same declaration:

“I rise.”

That distinction matters when sharing quotes attributed to her.

“You can't scare a woman who's already walked through fire” sounds like something Angelou might have written.

But I couldn't find reliable evidence that she actually did.

Her real words don't need improving.

Maya Angelou knew what it meant to have her voice taken by trauma.

She also knew what it meant to reclaim it.

The frightened child who stopped speaking grew into a woman whose words would be read around the world.

They tried to push her into the dirt.

She had already written the answer.

She would rise.