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Eartha Kitt knew the power of her voice. She lived a full life, and never minced her words. Many people tried to diminish or quiet her voice, but she refused to bite her tongue. Here are three pivotal examples.
At a 1968 White House luncheon, she unflinchingly spoke out against the Vietnam War. Lady Bird Johnson, the first lady, quickly tried to change the subject, and a media frenzy ensued, but Kitt stood ten toes down, proud to have spoken her truth.
In one of her most viral interviews, Kitt was asked about the need to compromise in romantic relationships. And again, with conviction, she declared that compromise isn’t necessary for love. But soon she would lose her ability to express her thoughts.
Kitt lost her voice near the end of her life. Her daughter claimed that after days of being unable to speak because of advanced colon cancer, Eartha Kitt summoned up her voice and left this life screaming. “She wasn't going to go without a fight -- that's for sure. She left this world screaming at the top of her lungs -- even though she couldn't talk at that point, I knew she would have been screaming,” her daughter Kitt Shapiro recalled. “I saw it in her eyes, which locked with mine. She was crying. Sad as I was, I felt blessed. There was nothing left unsaid or undone. There were no regrets.”
Eartha Kitt’s legacy reminds us of our agency and the power we all carry in our voices. Nothing and no one can ever silence our truth. And the truth is we carry the power for revolution in all of us.