I made a promise to myself to be kinder to other people.

You have to be taught to be second class; you're not born that way. But the slanting process is so subtle that you frequently don't realize how you're being slanted until very late in the game.

A little nepotism never hurt nobody, honey. If you got it, use it. Press on with it. Remind them of it.

You wouldn't be allowed to get on a particular bus, but you'd be asked to sign your autograph.

My identity is very clear to me now, I am a black woman.

I want to sing like Aretha Franklin. Before her I wanted the technical ability of Ella Fitzgerald.

I learned from Ethel Waters, Duke Ellington, Adelaide Hall, the Nicholas Brothers, the whole thing, the whole schmear. [The Cotton Club] was a great place because it hired us, for one thing, at a time when it was really rough [for Black performers].