“In her
long and extraordinary career, Cicely Tyson has not only succeeded as an actor,
she has shaped the course of history.” –President Barack Obama, 2016
Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony
“Just as I Am is my truth. It is me,
plain and unvarnished, with the glitter
and garland set aside. In these
pages, I am indeed Cicely, the actress
who has been blessed to grace the
stage and screen for six decades. Yet
I am also the church girl who once
rarely spoke a word. I am the teenager
who sought solace in the verses
of the old hymn for which this book
is named. I am a daughter and a
mother, a sister and a friend. I am an
observer of human nature and the
dreamer of audacious dreams. I am
a woman who has hurt as immeasurably
as I have loved, a child of God
divinely guided by his hand. And
here in my ninth decade, I am a
woman who, at long last, has something
meaningful to say.”
–
Cicely Tyson