I remember when Lindbergh arrived in Paris, I was one of the first persons to know about his landing, because as the French people know that I was born in St. Louis, thinking I would be very proud to announce it to the public, they gave me the news first. I was then starring in the 'Folies Bergere.'

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.

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

I believe in prayer. It's the best way we have to draw strength from heaven.

Each time I leaped I seemed to touch the sky and when I regained earth it seemed to be mine alone.

All my life, I have maintained that the people of the world can learn to live together in peace if they are not brought up in prejudice.

When I was a child and they burned me out of my home, I was frightened and I ran away. Eventually I ran far away. It was to a place called France. Many of you have been there, and many have not. But I must tell you, ladies and gentlemen, in that country I never feared. It was like a fairyland place.