I made a promise to myself to be kinder to other people.
I was unique in that I was a kind of black that white people could accept. I was their daydream. I had the worst kind of acceptance because it was never for how great I was or what I contributed. It was because of the way I looked.
My identity is very clear to me now, I am a black woman.
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.
It’s so nice to get flowers while you can still smell the fragrance.
I remember the day tDr. King died. I wasn’t angry at the beginning. It was like something very personal in my life had been touched and finished.
As much as I try, when I open my mouth, Lena comes out, And I get so mad.
I’m still learning, you know. At 80, I feel there is a lot I don’t know.
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.
It’s ill-becoming for an old broad to sing about how bad she wants it. But occasionally we do.
Every color I can think of and nationality, we were all touched by Dr. King because he made us like each other and respect each other.
Nobody black or white who really believes in democracy can stand aside now; everybody’s got to stand up and be counted.
I had my schooling right there in the Cotton Club.
In my early days I was a sepia Hedy Lamarr. Now I’m black and a woman, singing my own way.
I really do hate to sing.
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.
After I got over the terrible pain of having something of mine taken from me, I began to think how bad everybody else must be feeling. It wasn’t a nice time.
Malcolm X raised my consciousness about myself and my people and other people more than any person I know. I knew him before he became Malcolm X.
Count Basie isn’t just a man, or even just a band. He’s a way of life.