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I am of the African race, and in the colour which is natural to them of the deepest dye; and it is under a sense of the most profound gratitude to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe.

It was Dr. King's tireless activism that fostered our modern way of relating to one another.

I was lucky, as many of my generation was, in having a man like Dr. King in our lives. He came at a time that we needed to take a long look at each other and see how similar we were.

The man who raised me is black. Culturally, he made me who I am. He was a theatre director, so he also guided me artistically.

I am a red man. If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man he would have made me so in the first place.

I was so inspired by Dr. King that in 1956, with some of my brothers and sisters and first cousins - I was only 16 years old - we went down to the public library trying to check out some books, and we were told by the librarian that the library was for whites only and not for colors. It was a public library.

As far back as I can remember, I knew there was something wrong with our way of life when people could be mistreated because of the color of their skin.

I feel like I'm able to relate to all races of people because when you learn to tap into the raw emotion of a person, that goes past color.

The first time I ever saw people of any color was when D-Day left from my hometown in England, to go and free Europe from the war. And there was every color you could imagine, and I'd not seen that in England.