Ruby Dee

as Self (archive footage)

as Self (archive footage)

as Self

as Narrator

as Self

as Annie McCall

as Valerie

as Miss Candy

as Narrator (voice)

as Mrs. Harper

as Doris

as Mama Lucas

as Ms. Ella

as Herself

as Self

as Self

as Maude

as Nanna Maria

as Self

as Nanny

as Self

as (archive footage)

as Self

as Narrator

as Emelda West

as Elsie Claviere

as Mary Wilson

as Mrs. Henry

as Grandmother

as Narrator (voice)

as Annie Elizabeth 'Bessie' Delany

as Margo

as Self

as Mommit Porter

as Narrator

as Herself - Narrator

as Mrs. Mitchell (segment "The Badge")

as Self

as Hortence

as Self (archive footage)

as Indigo

as Sophia

as Grandma (voice)

as Evangeline Ferguson

as Jennie

as LaBelle Springbelt

as Grandmother (voice)

as Mother Abagail Freemantle

as Narrator

as Rachel

as Lydia Wilson

as Estelle Williams

as Narrator

as Narrator (voice)

as Lucinda Purify

as Rowena

as Jackie's Mother

as Corrine Dart

as Zora Neale Hurston

as Self

as Mother Sister

as Narrator (voice)

as Elizabeth Keckley

as Mammy Watkins

as Faye Williams

as Mrs. Grimes

as Self - Narrator (voice)

as Mary Tyrone

as Female

as Irene Whitfield

as Grandmother Baxter

as Queen Haley

as Self

as Leah Matanzima

as Julia Augustine

as Ruth Campanella

as Dr. Bianca Pearson

as Netta's mother

as Ruth

as Lorraine Hansberry and other assorted characters

as Narrator (voice)

as Sue Ann Lucas

as Self

as Self (archive footage)

as Lucinda

as Laurie

as Self - Guest

as Joan Robinson

as Self

as Vicky Kingsbury

as Harriet Tubman

as Laura Smith

as Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins

as Thief

as Catherine Collins

as Ruth Younger

as Christine

as Ruth

as Elizabeth

as Lucy Tyler

as Vicky Kingsbury

as Irma Jackson

as Self

as Rowena Finch

as Rachel

as Connie Brooks (uncredited)

as Rae Robinson

as Drugstore Girl

as Joan