The white audiences thought I was white, my features being what they are, and at every performance I'd have to take off my gloves to prove I was a spade.

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

Mom never quit on me. My only regret is that she didn't live long enough to share some of the money and comforts my work in show business has brought me.

The white audiences thought I was white, my features being what they are, and at every performance I'd have to take off my gloves to prove I was a spade.

I know the most terrible thing that can happen to a woman. That is the gang-up. Men put you to sleep with their drops and one man after another goes in and takes you.

I have always been psychic. The walls of any room I walk into talk to me.

Today I blame only certain agents for my long eclipse as a public entertainer.