“Rosa Parks was primed, she had the Civil Rights Movement behind her, she didn’t just decide to sit on the bus, it was strategic.”

I became an instant fan of the show [Underground] seconds into the opening frames of the pilot.

Study and know that we are always a student of the craft well after we’ve completed any course of study… and approach the work as a servant, not a star.

Learning about all these elements and aspects of her was mind-blowing and educational for me as a woman because I have to sometimes remind people that have known me for years.

But truthfully, we have so many stories, lives and subjects to explore that I’d love to keep pushing towards new knowledge.

One or the other she was going to have by any means necessary.

I felt validated and valued , and here was this woman [Whoopi Goldberg ] inside my television screen who gave me a voice.

When that drone shot carried us through the main house with Rosalie, played so unflinchingly-brilliantly by Jurnee Smollett Bell, I signed on for the ride.

I had praying grandmothers who bathed me in “The Word” and filled the atmosphere with worship.

I walked away from the craft because I wanted to know that this is what I was supposed to do with my life.

That is a huge part of my excitement, the fact that this generation will get such a beautifully-detailed introduction to a hero and icon that has largely lived in a few pages of our history books and in one-dimensional photographs.

You know, to be completely disgusted with injustice to the point that you will have to take some huge leaps of faith. And it may take one person leading many.

Harriet Tubman is the perpetuation of a “Super Soul Sunday” every day.

Harriet Tubman didn’t have strategy meetings or a movement behind her, she was the movement.

I went on to be inspired by many other artists and forms of art, and was soon directed to a place that would help harness my experiences and develop my voice within the craft, LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts in New York City.

I think we’re in a time that calls for that level of courage, that level of resolve.

I almost believe that Harriet Tubman asked God for a leave like, “I’m gonna need to go back down there and take care of some things. They’re in trouble.”