She Did It Her Way-Diahann Carroll Was a Pioneer, Legend and Diversity Champion

Diahann Carroll was in a a class of her own.

She achieved this distinction at a time when the very idea that a Black woman could chart her own course was revolutionary. Irrespective of whether the desired goal was a role in entertainment or another professional endeavor, this was considered an impossible dream. In the 1950’s of McCarthy-era America, widespread fear and segregation continued to sharply define the social order and opportunities available to Black Americans.

With the weight of institutions positioned to reinforce this reality, dreamers didn’t really stand a chance. The risks were high and the personal costs even higher.

The Civil Rights movement was still in its nascent stage, but the casualties were already considerable. The deaths of NAACP field director Medgar Evers in Mississippi and countless other everyday men and women struggling to assert their Constitutional rights as hard-working, tax-paying citizens were a chilling reminder of the steep, devastating cost of change.

And in Black Hollywood, the impact of the McCarthy hearings affected the careers of activists and suspected Communists like Paul Robeson, whose brilliant career as an actor and performer was cut short without remedy. Even the great Lena Horne found…