When Cicely Tyson was reading for her first play, The Dark of the Moon, she was sitting next to the actor, Roscoe Lee Brown, who was at the head of the table. She said later, "I was so shy and nervous, I sat there with the script covering my face." Brown noticed that and would take his hand and remove the script. He took and held her hand throughout the reading. Tyson recalled the words of encouragement he said to her: "You are going to be wonderful. You are going to be glorious."
RIGHTING WRONGS IN THE ARMY
When Clifford Alexander, the first black
Secretary of the Army was presented with his first general officers list
(a roster of colonels to be promoted to one-star general) he was
dissatisfied with it. Only white males were listed. Noticing that, he
rejected it. He wanted the list expanded to include deserving candidates
who were non-white or female. Among those who were on the revised list was
Col. Colin Powell, later the first black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff and the first black Secretary of
State of the United States.