- Died just days after receiving Emmy award for The Practice (1997), which was accepted for her by LisaGay Hamilton and delivered to Vicksburg.
- One of her poems, "Keep Climbing, Girls", has been turned into a picture book inspiring girls' power. Published 2006 by Simon & Schuster.
- For her work on the legitimate stage, she was honored with the Paul Robeson Pioneer Award and was inducted into the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame.
- 1948: Graduated from Dillard University in New Orleans.
- Father was a Baptist minister and mother a seamstress.
- Married for three years to an African-American sculptor.
- Stage: Appeared in James Baldwin's "The Amen Corner" on Broadway in 1965, for which she received a Tony nomination as Best Actress (Dramatic).
- She was a lifelong liberal Democrat and a Civil Rights activist.
- In 1967, she appeared in two films with Sidney Poitier: In the Heat of the Night (1967) and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), for which she received an Oscar nomination.
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