'I Think of Myself As a Man'

You don’t even know what I am, Dad, you don't know who I am. You don't know how I feel, what I think. And if I tried to explain it the rest of your life you will never understand. You are 30 years older than I am. You and your whole lousy generation believes the way it was for you is the way it’s got to be. And not until your whole generation has lain down and died will the dead weight be off our backs! You understand, you’ve got to get off my back! Dad . . .Dad, you’re my father. I'm your son. I love you. I always have and I always will. But you think of yourself as a colored man. I think of myself as a man.

-- SIDNEY POITIER in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Hat tip to Polimom