I've never been able to feel that there is anything undignified about making your living by the sweat of your brow.

Whenever I played Columbus, Ohio, I dropped in to see my close friend, a medium who had mysterious powers. Her Indian guide was Mohawk.

There was one emotional outlet my people always had when they had the blues. That was singing.

Among Negroes it is a bad omen when someone knocks on the door of a house where a person has died.

When I act I try to express the suffering or joy I've known during my lifetime.

In her whole life Mom never earned more than five or six dollars a week. Being without a husband, it was hard for her to find any place at all for us to live.

I'm not afraid to die. I'm looking forward to it. I know the Lord has His arms wrapped around this big sparrow.