We show girls were forced to live in whorehouses in each town, no other accommodations being available.

I never posed as a saint. I would have slept with a man for nothing if I liked him well enough.

The greatest acts in colored show business had long made Harlem their home and favorite stamping ground.

I could always open shows, perform through the middle, and close shows.

My father came back one day and forced my mother to submit to him. He raped her, holding a knife.

We are all gifted. That is our inheritance.

It has been an ache and a joy both to look over this big shoulder of mine at all my yesterdays.