Turning one hundred was the worst birthday of my life. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Turning 101 was not so bad. Once you're past that century mark, it's just not as shocking.

I am a colored woman or a Negro woman. Either one is OK. People dislike those words now. Today these use this term African American. It wouldn't occur to me to use that. I prefer to think of myself as an American, that's all!

[My mother told me:] You must decide whether you want to get married someday, or have a career.... I set my sights on the career. I thought, what does any man really have to offer me?

There are certain stereotypes that are offensive. Some of them don't worry me, though. For instance, I have always thought that Mammy character in Gone with the Wind was mighty funny. And I just loved Amos 'n' Andy on the radio. So you see, I have enough confidence in myself that those things did not bother me. I could laugh.

It always seemed to me that white people were judged as individuals. But if a Negro did something stupid or wrong, it was held against all of us.

I'm a hundred-and-one years old and at my age, honey, I can say what I want!