In her whole life Mom never earned more than five or six dollars a week. Being without a husband, it was hard for her to find any place at all for us to live.

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Despite these successes her brilliant career was fading. She had three gigs at this point; in addition to the show Ethel Waters starred in a national radio program and continued to work in nightclubs. I never was cuddled or liked or understood by my family.

Waters was the second African American after Hattie McDaniel to be nominated for an Academy Award. She frequently performed jazz big band and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts although Ethel Waters began her career in the 1920s singing blues.