Melissa Bray

@melissabray.bsky.social

118 Followers 272 Following

Higher ed instructional designer, dog lover, chocoholic, bargain shopper, Orangetheory addict.

White and tan shih tzu pomeranian mix puppy napping on a floral blanket and pillow.
Image of Muhammad Ali with his quote, "Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth."
Image of Roberta Flack with her quote, "As musicians, and as people who sell material for people to hear and absorb, it's important that we use that voice wisely."
Image of Horace Silver with his quote, "Musical composition should bring happiness and joy to people and make them forget their troubles."
Image of Quincy Jones with his quote, "Arts is just as important as military defense, you know? Emotional defense is just as important."
Image of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall with his quote, "Racism separates, but it never liberates. Hatred generates fear, and fear once given a foothold binds, consumes, and imprisons. Nothing is gained from prejudice. No one benefits from racism."
The Norman Rockwell painting of Ruby Bridges, in a white dress carrying books to the her first day of attending an all-white school. She is surrounded by federal marshals, and there are remnants of the tomatoes thrown at her.
Image of Toni Morrison with her quote, "I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge - even wisdom. Like art."
Barack Obama in the Oval Office bending over so a young boy in a white shirt and striped tie can touch his hair.
Print of Levar Burton with his statement, "Read the books they don't want you to. That's where the good stuff is."
Image of Faith Ringgold's "The Sunflower Quilting Bee at Arles," which shows Vincent Van Gogh giving his "Fifteen Sunflowers in a Vase" to the queens of change - Madam C.J. Walker, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Fannie Lou Hamer, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Ella Baker.
Image of Mildred and Richard Loving, with Mildred's quote, "I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight, seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about."
Image of the New York Renaissance players, the first all-black basketball team in the U.S.
Profile image of W.E.B. Du Bois with his quote, "Either America will destroy ignorance or ignorance will destroy the United States."
Profile of Nelson Mandela with the quote "During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."
Print of Maya Angelou with a floral headdress surrounded by some of her famous quotes, including “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Harriet Tubman in a shawl with her quote, “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars, to change the world.”
Image of Jesse Owens in his 1936 Olympics track uniform with the quote, "Find the good. It's all around you. Find it, showcase it and you'll start believing in it."
An image of a rising fist surrounded by the Alice Walker quote “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”
Image of a Tuskegee Airman in full flight fear in front of a plane with the quote, "They said Blacks couldn't be pilots and wouldn't make good military men. We proved them wrong. We distinguished ourselves in every way possible. We made that red tail famous."
Image of Rosa Parks with her quote "You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right."
Image with the John Lewis quote: "Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America."
A gray dog with her head in a turquoise popcorn bag