The Kennedy Center Honors includes a White House visit for honorees and a gala performance Dec. 6 in Washington, featuring amazing entertainers. The show will broadcast Dec. 29 on CBS. Cicely Tyson is beyond deserving of this honor for a career that has spanned decades and work that continues to influence the lives of those that come behind her.

Tyson is a Tony Award winner for her work in The Trip To Bountiful in 2013. She starred alongside Vanessa Williams, Cuba Gooding Jr., & Condola Rashad in that Bountiful on Broadway. Probably best known for her leading roles in “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” and “Roots,”  she was also nominated for an Academy Award for “Sounder.”

“During my career I certainly questioned whether or not I was doing the right thing when I turned down roles,” she said. “Needless to say there were very few roles over the years written for women . I had to wait for it not only to be written for a woman but for a black woman. And then of course the longer I live, I became involved in ageism. So there’s always been that challenge.”

The actress said she was always selective with what roles she would take — but the Kennedy Center Honor tells her she made the right choices.

Indeed she did. Congratulations to the incomparable Cicely Tyson on this honor. We aren’t the only people to feel that way. Read the congrats from some of those Ms. Tyson has influenced and watch her 2013 Tony acceptance speech and get inspired all over again.

To the woman who inspired me to dream big…Ms.@IAmCicelyTyson! Brava on your Kennedy Center Honor. Well deserved!

— Viola Davis (@violadavis) July 15, 2015

Congratulations 2my #WCW, Ms. @IAmCicelyTyson 4being honored by the @kennedycenter w a Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award! @KChonors #KCH

— Anika Noni Rose (@AnikaNoniRose) July 15, 2015

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