Since I personified the savage on the stage, I tried to be as civilized as possible in daily life.

Let us stop saying 'white Americans' and 'colored Americans,' let us try once and for all saying... Americans. Let human beings be equal on Earth as in Heaven.

I spent 30 minutes each morning rubbing my body with half a lemon to lighten my skin.

I wasn't really naked. I simply didn't have any clothes on.

I did take the blows [of life], but I took them with my chin up, in dignity, because I so profoundly love and respect humanity.

I'm not intimidated by anyone. Everyone is made with two arms, two legs, a stomach and a head. Just think about that.

Friends, to me for years St. Louis represented a city of fear... humiliation... misery and terror... A city where in the eyes of the white man a Negro should know his place and had better stay in it.