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

Quote by Bernice Johnson Reagon

Topics: Challenge Quotes, Life Quotes

The Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife, actually, was an effort to put something on the...

The Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife, actually, was an effort to put something on the...

In fact when Sweet Honey was ten years old it was too big for me...

In fact when Sweet Honey was ten years old it was too big for me...

If I had been at a University I don't think I would have been able...

If I had been at a University I don't think I would have been able...

I think the Civil Rights Movement changed that trajectory for me. The first thing I...

I think the Civil Rights Movement changed that trajectory for me. The first thing I...

The first job I had with the Smithsonian was as a field researcher among African...

The first job I had with the Smithsonian was as a field researcher among African...

I came out of the Civil Rights Movement, and I had a different kind of...

I came out of the Civil Rights Movement, and I had a different kind of...

And I used to think that proof that I had religion was whether I knew...

And I used to think that proof that I had religion was whether I knew...

Personally I discovered that you could go through the academy as a young scholar, come...

Personally I discovered that you could go through the academy as a young scholar, come...

At the same time all this was happening, there was a folk song revival movement...

At the same time all this was happening, there was a folk song revival movement...

I started graduate school in 1971, I started working at the Smithsonian in the festival...

I started graduate school in 1971, I started working at the Smithsonian in the festival...

Well, the first time I ran into the term religion, people were asking whether you...

Well, the first time I ran into the term religion, people were asking whether you...

There is nowhere you can go and only be with people who are like you....

There is nowhere you can go and only be with people who are like you....

I learned that if you bring black people together, you bring them together with a...

I learned that if you bring black people together, you bring them together with a...

So one of the things that happened with integration in the South is they found...

So one of the things that happened with integration in the South is they found...

I was at the Smithsonian for twenty years, and I'm still at the Smithsonian as...

I was at the Smithsonian for twenty years, and I'm still at the Smithsonian as...

The voice I have now, I got the first time I sang in a movement...

The voice I have now, I got the first time I sang in a movement...

But I'm a historian. I wasn't interested in just being a producer, I was interested...

But I'm a historian. I wasn't interested in just being a producer, I was interested...

When I started graduate school I was interested in the culture of the Civil Rights...

When I started graduate school I was interested in the culture of the Civil Rights...

One of the biggest things I understood in a program like that was that it...

One of the biggest things I understood in a program like that was that it...

I just don't think one person has that much to contribute to any subject.

I just don't think one person has that much to contribute to any subject.