The Course Of History Can Be Changed

In The Early Days Of My Carer As An Actor, I Shared What Was Then The Prevailing Attitude Of Negro Performers :;that The Content And Form Of A Play Or A Film Scenario Was Of Little Importance To Us. What Mattered Was Was The Opportunity, Which Came So Seldom To Our Folks ... Later I Came To Understand That The Negro Artist Could Not View The Matter Simply In Terms Of Of His Individual Interests, And That He Had A Responsibility To His People Who Rightfully Resented The Traditional Stereotyped Portrayals Of Negros On Stage And Screen.

As Americans, Preserving The Best Of Our Traditions, We Have The Right- Nay The Duty-to Fight For Participation In The Forward March Of Humanity

Yes, I Heard My People Singing!-in The Glow Of Parlor Coal-stove And On Summer Porches Sweet With Lilac Air, From Choir Loft And Sunday Morning Pews-and My Soul Was Filled With Their Harmonies.

And At Home In The United States We Found Continued And Increased Persecution, First Of Leaders Of The Communist Party, And Then Of All Honest Anti-fascists.

I Found A Special Eagerness Among The Younger, And I Am Sorry To Say, The More Intelligent Negroes, To Dismiss The Spiritual As Something Beneath Their New Pride In Their Race. It Is As If They Wanted To Put It Behind Them As Something To Be Ashamed Of.