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

Asking what I considered an impossible salary when I didn't want to work for someone has boosted my pay again and again.

After years in white theaters I dreaded working in colored houses. The noise, the stomping, whistling, and cheering that hadn't annoyed me when I was young was now something I dreaded.

Today or any day that phone may ring and bring good news.

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

We miss a lot in life because we don't know when to quit, what to leave out.

Though I was excited about the Sojourner Truth play, it was not reassuring to think that my entire future might depend on the success of that one show.