How It Feels to Be Free (2021)
Tells the inspiring story of how six iconic African American female entertainers – Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone, Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson and Pam Grier – challenged an entertainment industry deeply complicit in perpetuating racist stereotypes, and transformed themselves and their audiences in the process.
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Cast
Abbey Lincoln
as Self (archival footage)
Anna Marie Wooldridge, known professionally as Abbey Lincoln, was an American jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress. She was a civil rights activist beginning in the 1960s. Lincoln made a career not...
Nina Simone
as Self (archival footage)
Nina Simone (born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist who worked in a broad range of musical st...
Diahann Carroll
as Self (archival footage)
Diahann Carroll (born Carol Diahann Johnson; July 17, 1935 – October 4, 2019) was an American actress, singer and model. She rose to stardom in performances in some of the earliest major studio films...
Pam Grier
as Self (archival footage)
Pamela Suzette Grier (born May 26, 1949) is an American actress. Described by director Quentin Tarantino as cinema's first female action star, she achieved fame for her starring roles in a string of 1...
Lena Horne
as Self (archival footage)
Lena Horne (June 30, 1917 - May 9, 2010) was a singer, dancer, actress, and civil rights activist.
Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer be...
Cicely Tyson
as Self (archival footage)
Cicely Louise Tyson (December 19, 1924 – January 28, 2021) was an American actress. In a career which spanned more than seven decades in film, television and theatre, she became known for her portraya...
Director
Yoruba Richen