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.
Bernice Johnson Reagon

There is nowhere you can go and only be with people who are like you. Give it up.
Bernice Johnson Reagon

I came out of the Civil Rights Movement, and I had a different kind of focus than most people who have just the academic background as their primary training experience.
Bernice Johnson Reagon

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.
Bernice Johnson Reagon

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

And I used to think that proof that I had religion was whether I knew how to sing all of the songs.
Bernice Johnson Reagon

In fact when Sweet Honey was ten years old it was too big for me to run, and I knew it, but I ran it for another thirteen years because I couldn't convince other people to really do it. And this year, I'm not running it.
Bernice Johnson Reagon

One of the biggest things I understood in a program like that was that it allowed more young African American scholars to do field research in the Caribbean and in Africa than had ever happened before in the history of the country and since.
Bernice Johnson Reagon