I learned that if you bring black people together, you bring them together with a song. To this day, I don't understand how people think they can bring anybody together without a song.

When I started graduate school I was interested in the culture of the Civil Rights Movement.

So one of the things that happened with integration in the South is they found that the black teachers were much more educated than the white teachers.

If we dwell in a community that is comfortable, then it's probably not broad enough a coalition.

If every moment is sacred and if you are amazed and in awe most of the time when you find yourself breathing and not crazy, then you are in a state of constant thankfulness, worship and humility.

I started graduate school in 1971, I started working at the Smithsonian in the festival in 1972. I went full-time at the Smithsonian in 1974. And I got my doctorate in 1975.

The Civil Rights Movement also reaffirmed me as a singer. It taught me that singing was not entertainment, it was something else.