“I have walked into the palaces of kings and queens and into the houses...” — Josephine Baker Quote

“I have walked into the palaces of kings and queens and into the houses of presidents. And much more. But I could not walk into a hotel in America and get a cup of coffee, and that made me mad.”

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

“Surely the day will come when color means nothing more than the skin tone, when religion is seen uniquely as a way to speak one's soul, when birth places have the weight of a throw of the dice and all men are born free, when understanding breeds love and brotherhood.”

“I wouldn't imagine I would become famous in America for my talk shows.”

“Until the legacy of remembered and reenacted trauma is taken seriously, black America cannot heal.”

“I feel that I had been rescued from the gutter by America. One day I was under the gutter, chased by police, thinking dogs were going to get me. I laid there listening to the dogs and the gutter. The next day, there I am standing on the Olympic platform, and you hear the anthem. I was proud.”