Just as I Am

by Cicely Tyson

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

One of the most important actresses of our time, Cicely Tyson — at 95 — is finally sharing her life story. The recipient of an honorary Oscar and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the iconic actress whose defining roles in Sounder, Roots and the The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman unveils the pain and suffering she felt as a Black woman in America. She describes her amazing life with emotion and transparency not often found in celebrity memoirs.

“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

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062931078
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	02/15/2022
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	40,275
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Ms. Cicely Tyson is an actress, lecturer, activist, and one of the most respected talents in American theater and film history. From her starring role on Broadway in The Blacks (1961), to the Emmy-nominated 1999 HBO film A Lesson Before Dying, her work has garnered critical and commercial applause for more than sixty years. Her two Emmys for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman made her the first African-American woman to win an Emmy for Best Actress. In 2013, Ms. Tyson won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance as Miss Carrie Watts in The Trip to Bountiful. A capstone achievement came in 2018, when she became the first Black woman to receive an honorary Oscar. The Board of Governors voted unanimously to honor her with the award, which came 45 years after her Academy Award nominated performance in Sounder.

Table of Contents

Foreword A Mighty Seed Viola Davis vii

Introduction This Life xiii

Part 1 Planted

1 The Vow 3

2 String Bean 10

3 Church Girl 33

4 Transitions 47

5 The Other America 58

6 Unspoken 76

7 Ground Shifts 94

8 Divinely Guided 108

9 Shoulder Taps 117

10 Center Stage 138

Part 2 Rooted

11 Riverside Park 163

12 Going Natural 186

13 1968 204

14 Rebecca 223

15 Jane Pittman 241

16 Endings and Beginnings 254

17 The Ladder 266

18 Roots 278

19 Thanksgiving Day 299

20 Threadbare 317

21 Lesson Before Dying 333

Part 3 Bountiful

22 A Strong Harvest 353

23 Trip to Bountiful 369

24 When Great Trees Fall 382

25 Just as I Am 390

Acknowledgments 401

Dedication 407

Index 408

Editorial Reviews

The autobiography of Miss Cicely Tyson is a balm for the afflicted.” — New York Times

“A parting gift to readers and chronicles an incredible life, lived fully.” — USA Today

“This grand tale of her immense talent and desire to live out loud will resonate with anyone who has a dream.” — O, the Oprah Magazine

"It’s in these poignant moments that the memoir becomes a resonant meditation on the link between an actress’s life and her art. This showstopping tale hits the mark." — Publishers Weekly

“What shines most from the memoir is how Tyson’s story, while frankly written and supremely eye-opening, isn’t just her own. It’s also the story of Black women in America, of generations past, present and yet to come, whose wills to survive are divinely gifted and ancestrally guided.” — Washington Post

"Tyson speaks with incisive clarity, humor, and moral authority…” — Booklist

 “If you’re ready for your next book, “Just As I Am” is the one to pick.” — Washington Informer

“This book is Ms. Tyson’s abundant treasure to each of us: her life, in her words, just as she is. She shares truths usually whispered between close friends in the dim light of a back bedroom, those candid declarations not often spoken aloud. And she tells her story the way only a black woman can: in all of its dazzling authenticity, heels off and voice undulating, shifting between anguish and exuberance. The art of acting is the art of exposing, an emotional unveiling before others. Ms. Tyson is as revelatory on these pages as she has been on the stage."  — — Viola Davis, Academy, Tony, and Emmy award-winning actress and producer

From the Publisher

"Tyson speaks with incisive clarity, humor, and moral authority…

Booklist

The autobiography of Miss Cicely Tyson is a balm for the afflicted.

New York Times

A parting gift to readers and chronicles an incredible life, lived fully.

USA Today

A parting gift to readers and chronicles an incredible life, lived fully.

USA Today

"Tyson speaks with incisive clarity, humor, and moral authority…

Booklist

What shines most from the memoir is how Tyson’s story, while frankly written and supremely eye-opening, isn’t just her own. It’s also the story of Black women in America, of generations past, present and yet to come, whose wills to survive are divinely gifted and ancestrally guided.

Washington Post

This book is Ms. Tyson’s abundant treasure to each of us: her life, in her words, just as she is. She shares truths usually whispered between close friends in the dim light of a back bedroom, those candid declarations not often spoken aloud. And she tells her story the way only a black woman can: in all of its dazzling authenticity, heels off and voice undulating, shifting between anguish and exuberance. The art of acting is the art of exposing, an emotional unveiling before others. Ms. Tyson is as revelatory on these pages as she has been on the stage." 

Viola Davis

01/04/2021

In her spirited debut memoir, actor Tyson recalls her extraordinary life, as well as the racial and gender stereotyping, movie-business prejudice, and ill-behaved men that shaped her seven-decade career. Tyson highlights her lifelong penchant for rebelling against convention and injustice, from speaking up against her straitlaced West Indian mother and her abandonment of an early marriage (an ordeal of “tedium and regret”) to fighting off an attempted sexual assault by acting teacher Paul Mann. She also discusses the importance of pushing back against excessive workplace demands. (“When the show’s director would not grant me the time off, I took it anyway.”) The memoir dives deep into Tyson’s reflections on how her performances affected audiences and fans, noting how “deeply satisfying” it was to hear from “those who approached me, tears in their eyes, to say how had touched them.” She also provides an intimate glimpse into her stormy marriage to jazz maestro Miles Davis, which ended in divorce. (“I felt no need to drape words on the hanger of inevitability. The marriage had long since been over.”) It’s in these poignant moments that the memoir becomes a resonant meditation on the link between an actress’s life and her art. This showstopping tale hits the mark. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

This grand tale of her immense talent and desire to live out loud will resonate with anyone who has a dream.

the Oprah Magazine O

What shines most from the memoir is how Tyson’s story, while frankly written and supremely eye-opening, isn’t just her own. It’s also the story of Black women in America, of generations past, present and yet to come, whose wills to survive are divinely gifted and ancestrally guided.

Washington Post

If you’re ready for your next book, “Just As I Am” is the one to pick.

Washington Informer

02/01/2021

In this memoir, actress Tyson (Roots) recounts her childhood in a family she experienced as simultaneously loving and abusive; reflects on her decades-long, multiple-award-winning career on stage and screen; and shares her philosophies on life, acting, health, and faith. Among other distinctions, Tyson was a pioneer in the natural hair movement, as the first actress to wear her hair natural on television. She emphasizes her belief in Black excellence, relating stories of people working hard to better their lives and those of their family members. Tyson herself dedicated her career early on to positive portrayals of Black people, especially Black women, recognizing that there were few such portrayals when her career began. She ties her experiences as a Black woman to issues of systemic racism and generational trauma, and to recent police killings of Black people. Tyson's longtime partner Miles Davis features heavily in her reminiscences. Some readers will be distressed by depictions of children's corporal punishment and by repeated use of a slur for disability and disabled people. VERDICT Recommend to readers who enjoy engaging and sassy memoirs, and those interested in learning about 20th-century Black theater, film, and television.—Monica Howell, Northwestern Health Sciences Univ. Lib., Bloomington, MN

Library Journal