Born in a small town in the South, Nina Simone revealed her talent for the piano at a very young age, playing gospel in churches and social events, to the point where she was called a child prodigy. Raised in a religious family, she was confronted very early on with the harsh reality of racial discrimination, when at her first concert at the age of ten, the organizers demanded that her parents give up their front-row seats for a white family to sit. This was her first act of activism: she insisted that her parents stay in their seats or she wouldn't perform. With the goal of becoming the first black classical musician in America, she saw her dreams crumble when she was denied a scholarship to the Curtis Institute because of her skin color.
She dedicated her career to the cause of racial equality, often at the risk of her physical integrity and mental well-being.
She embraced and actively participated in the protest movements of the '60s and '70s, and her song "Young Gifted and Black" became an anthem for the Civil Rights movement. In her autobiography "Black Soul," the indomitable, charismatic Nina Simone - the high priestess of soul and one of the most important singers of the 20th century, according to Rolling Stone magazine - speaks candidly about her tumultuous, captivating, and passion-filled life, about music, her loves, her political activism, her dreams, and their disappointments.