If I could find a white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I could make a billion dollars.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
If I were white, I could capture the world.
If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man, he would have made me so in the first place.
The people of the Southern States now own near five millions of these negroes, and they are worth to them near three millions of dollars.
The Negroes have little invention, but strong powers of imitation, so that they readily acquire mechanic arts. They have a great talent for music, and all their external senses are remarkably acute.
I was always told that I'd have to do a movie with a white guy in order to get the money. That's the way it was. That made me feel that I should have chosen some other profession, so I could have gotten my just deserts.
I would give up everything rather than have the blood of white men upon the hands of my people.
It's very lonely being a prominent black intellectual at an institution where you're the only prominent black intellectual. That was the model that was followed in the late 60s when black studies started. You'd get one here and one there and one here, like Johnny Appleseed.
I'd be happy if people said that I did a little bit to raise the dignity and recognition of the greatness of African-American music.
I could stand in the street and sing and get enough to pay the bills. I don't need millions of dollars.
If you earned money listening to music, I'd be a millionaire.