Stay With the Pot

A poignant and revelatory memoir from acclaimed novelist and actor Denise Nicholas that offers an intimate exploration of her multifaceted life, delving deeply into themes of artistic self-invention, race, and grief. Growing up as a middle-class Black girl in 1950s Detroit, Denise Nicholas experienced the vibrant culture and harsh realities of a racially segregated city, which profoundly influenced her perspective on identity. In her early twenties, she dropped out of the University of Michigan to tour the Deep South with the Free Southern Theater at the height of the civil rights movement, a path that ultimately ignited her lifelong commitment to social justice and activism. A few short years later she would launch from stage work to meteoric national fame as a series lead on the groundbreaking ABC-TV show Room 222, a role that earned her three consecutive Golden Globe nominations. With eloquence, vulnerability, and resolve, Nicholas mines her six-decade journey through TV and film stardom and the complexities of her three marriages, reflecting on the personal, professional, and societal pressures that influenced both her acting work and her relationships. Nicholas navigates the intersections of love and identity, exploring how her experiences in Hollywood shaped her understanding of success, intimacy, and commitment. Her narrative is rich with anecdotes from her career in Hollywood, as an actor and, later, a successful writer first for television and eventually as an acclaimed novelist providing a backdrop to the struggles and achievements that marked her path. She candidly discusses the challenges she faced as a trailblazing actress of color, shedding light on the systemic barriers and biases within the entertainment industry. But at the deepest level, this memoir is a heartfelt exploration of grief, as Nicholas recounts the profound lossesincluding the unsolved targeted slaying of her sister, the telling of which occupies the center of her storythat have shaped her. Her reflections on mourning and resilience paint a vivid, moving portrait of how to journey through healing to new dimensions of self-discovery. Through her powerful, stylish, and profoundly evocative storytelling, Nicholas not only chronicles her own remarkable life but also provides a resonant narrative of what it means to live, work, and succeed as a Black woman in America over the past half-century.