Some quotes stay with you. This one is just seven words long, but it carries a lot of weight.
“We must always attempt to lift as we climb.”
That line comes from Angela Davis, philosopher, author, activist, and professor. She wrote it in her 1990 book, Women, Culture & Politics, in a chapter called “Let Us All Rise Together: Radical Perspectives on Empowerment for Afro-American Women.”
Where the Quote Comes From
Davis was born on January 26, 1944, in Birmingham, Alabama. She earned a scholarship to finish high school in New York City, then studied in Germany for two years and spent a year at the University of Paris. Back in the U.S., she attended Brandeis University on another scholarship, where she studied philosophy. She later earned her master’s degree from the University of California, San Diego.
Today, she is a professor emerita of history of consciousness and feminist studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She has spent decades writing, speaking, and working on issues of civil rights, women’s rights, and prison reform.
The book that contains this quote is a collection of her speeches and writings focused on, as its description puts it, “the political and social changes of the past decade as they are concerned with the struggle for racial, sexual, and economic equality.”
The Motto Behind the Quote
Early in that chapter, Davis points to the motto of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs: “Lifting As We Climb.” Her quote grows directly from that tradition.
She explains the idea this way: climbing toward success must be done in a way that guarantees the empowerment of all, “regardless of social class”, including bringing brothers and sisters along for the journey. She called strategies that follow this motto the most effective ones for empowering Black women in America.
“Afro-American women bring to the women’s movement a strong tradition of struggle around issues that politically link women to the most crucial progressive causes. This is the meaning of the motto, ‘Lifting As We Climb.’ This approach reflects the often unarticulated interests and aspirations of masses of women of all racial backgrounds.”
Davis argued that the fight should not be limited to a single group’s concerns. Instead, it should address everything that holds women back, including racist violence, wages, working conditions, and more. The goal, she wrote, is a better future for our children and their children’s children.
Why It Reaches Beyond One Cause
Davis wrote these words specifically about how Black women and men should approach their work toward equity and equal rights. But the idea extends beyond that. It speaks to anyone working toward a more just world for any group of people.
The image is simple and enduring: if you are climbing, don’t pull the ladder up behind you. Leave it there. Better yet, reach down and help the next person up.
More Words Worth Keeping From Angela Davis
- “We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society.”
- “Radical simply means ‘grasping things at the root.'”
- “You can’t criticize people for wanting to have a decent life or wanting to live decently.”
- “Whenever you conceptualize social justice struggles, you will always defeat your own purposes if you cannot imagine the people around whom you are struggling as equal partners.”
- “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.”
- “If they come for me in the morning, they will come for you in the night.”