I was in California when this journalist made a blanket statement about the fact that she did not think that black men and women had the kind of love relationship that Rebecca and Nathan had in Sounder.

Cicely Tyson

Categorized in : Thinking Men Relationship

I feel so guilty about the state of young people today. And I say that because our generation fought for everything. We fought to sit down at a counter, to sit on a bus. They were left with nothing to fight for.

feel fight today people

Unless a piece really said something, I had no interest in it. I have got to know that I have served some purpose here.

something know purpose said

The gratification comes, for me, in the doing of it. And once I've done it, I can't do anything about it if it's good or if it's bad.

doing bad good me

In my early years, there were a number of experiences that made me decide I could not afford the luxury of just being an actress. There were a number of issues I wanted to address. And I wanted to use my career as a platform.

career being me luxury

The choices of roles I made had to do with educating and entertaining. And as a result I found myself working only every two or three years.

result myself three choices

One lady told me that before she saw 'Sounder' she didn't believe black people could love each other, have deep relationships in the same way as white people.

me black love people

My mother was an introvert and quite religious. And we were brought up in the church. And when she learned that I wanted to act, she simply said: 'You cannot live here and do that.'

live you church mother

How do you project a character if you don't have a sense of where she is from? I've always just gotten on a plane to go to the area to get a sense of what it is like, to smell it, feel the earth, hear people talk, go to the marketplaces.

feel you character people

Now, I am perfectly willing to just enjoy my career by choosing roles simply because I consider them to be a challenge and doing the best possible job I can.

challenge i-am best enjoy

As far as 'Jane Pittman,' I don't know that I could verbalize, to this day, what I felt once I got into that role. I did a tremendous amount of research. I need to feel as though I am in the person's skin.

i-am feel day research

I didn't want to be an actress; I never thought of being an actress because, as children, there were three of us - I was the middle child - and we spent our time in church from Sunday morning to Saturday night.

time morning night children

I don't think you can measure wealth in dollars and cents. I really don't believe that at all because there are some things that money cannot buy. One of them is health. And the other is security in your relationships and friends.

you health money believe

And we’re holding on to the last rung, and those fists are being trampled on by all those three above and still we hold on.

After that, I was offered the part of another whore and I said no because I didn’t want to get typecast and because it was demeaning to Black women.

This is a culmination of all those years of haves and have nots.