Bernice Johnson Reagon

Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are. ”

I was at the Smithsonian for twenty years, and I'm still at the Smithsonian as a curator emeritus, and I still plan to figure out what that means for me at this point in my life. ”

The voice I have now, I got the first time I sang in a movement meeting, after I got out of jail... and I'd never heard it before in my life. ”

If I had been at a University I don't think I would have been able to have the experience I had in my Smithsonian work. I don't think I have been as successful. ”

When the culture is strong, you've got this consistency where black people can grow up in these places with this voice just resonating about our special-ness in the universe. And I always say you're in trouble if you get too far away from that core that grounds you. ”

It makes sense that whatever the topic is, it's more compelling if you can provide the audience with a range of perspectives, and you can cross disciplines. And you don't have to control what people take out of it. ”

I organized Sweet Honey In The Rock in 1973. The music was sanity and balance. ”

Well, the first time I ran into the term religion, people were asking whether you had any. You know, some people had religion and some people didn't have religion. ”

If every moment is sacred, and If you are amazed and in awe most of the time when you find yourself breathing and not crazy, then you are in a state of constant thankfulness, worship and humility. ”

I started graduate school in 1971, I started working at the Smithsonian in the festival in 1972. I went full-time at the Smithsonian in 1974. And I got my doctorate in 1975. ”