Trivia

Won Broadway's 1987 Tony Award as Best Actress (Featured Role - Play) for August Wilson's "Fences." She was also Tony-nominated in 1995 as Best Actress in a Play for "Having Our Say.".

Won the Best Supporting Actress Emmy for her role in 1993's "I'll Fly Away".

Taught in Elementary School before her acting career took off.

When she was still a struggling actress doing stage plays, she made a living doing her castmate's laundry for a salary of $200 a week.

Upon her death, she was buried with her siblings at Oak Wood Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois, in regard for her last wishes.

Retired from acting in 2005.

Was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2000.

She was a lifelong liberal Democrat, feminist, and civil rights activist.

Had she ever been nominated for an Academy Award and won, she would have achieved the rare feat of winning the Triple Crown of Acting. She had already won an Emmy and a Tony for her acting.