Just as I Am: A Memoir - Cicely Tyson Audiobook

Written by Cicely Tyson
Read by Cicely Tyson, Viola Davis, Robin Miles
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Length: 16 hours 9 minutes
Date of release: 2021

Icon Cicely Tyson graces us with her hard-won wisdom and indefatigable spirit in her autobiography, almost a century in the making. In Just as I Am, Tyson takes us on the journey of her lifetime, revisiting her youth and the work of honing her craft, forging a path as a legendary actress in a time rife with racism and limitations. Tyson shares her perspective on how she selected roles after coming face-to-face with deep racial divides while doing press for her Academy Award-nominated turn as Rebecca in Sounder in 1972. She took the position that “her art had to mirror the times and propel them forward.” It was her mission to choose parts with the intention “to change the way Black women were perceived, by reflecting our dignity.” And she did just that.

Narrated by Viola Davis and Robin Miles, with the introduction provided by Tyson herself, their performances are elegant and illuminating. How lucky we are that this legend gave us a glimpse of her beautiful soul in this powerful account of a life so well lived.

“Just as I Am is my truth. It is me, plain and unvarnished, with the glitter and garland set aside. Here, 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 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)

Co-authored with Michelle Burford.