I don't have to be an imitation of a white woman that Hollywood sort of hoped I'd become. I'm me, and I'm like nobody else.

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

50 years old is like springtime to me.

Nobody black or white who really believes in democracy can stand aside now; everybody's got to stand up and be counted.

I was lucky, as many of my generation was, in having a man like Dr. King in our lives. He came at a time that we needed to take a long look at each other and see how similar we were.

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

In my early days I was a sepia Hedy Lamarr. Now I'm black and a woman, singing my own way.