Audre Lorde

"I write for those women who do not speak, for those who do not have a voice because they were so terrified, because we are taught to respect fear more than ourselves. We've been taught that silence would save us, but it won't."— Audre Lorde

Audre Lorde was a trailblazer in just about every facet of her life. Celebrated for her work as a poet (she was named New York’s Poet Laureate in 1991), Lorde was also an activist and a librarian who believed deeply in the power of words to enact real change in the world. She once described herself as a “black lesbian feminist warrior mother,” and all of those identities are fully represented in the above quote, in which Lorde champions self-respect and voice above all else.