Ethel Waters Signed and Inscribed Autobiography "To Me It's Wonderful", First Edition 1972

1972. [African American][Film and Entertainment] Waters, Ethel. To Me It's Wonderful. New York: Harper & Row, 1972. First edition. Original wrappers. Inscribed on the title page by the author: "In His Precious Love / Ethel Waters." A compelling first-person memoir by trailblazing African American actress and singer Ethel Waters. Waters rose to fame on the Harlem Renaissance stage and in Hollywood before undergoing a profound religious conversion later in life. This work, her second autobiography following His Eye is on the Sparrow (1951), departs from a conventional career retrospective in favor of a testimonial narrative documenting her embrace of evangelical Christianity and her close association with Rev. Billy Graham, to whom the book is dedicated ("To my precious child Billy Graham and my entire Team family"). Waters, an emblematic figure of 20th-century Black performance history, broke barriers as the first African American woman nominated for a Primetime Emmy and among the earliest to star in her own television program. Her legacy includes her profound impact on jazz, blues, and gospel music, as well as her courageous navigation of a white-dominated entertainment and religious sphere. Wrapper with modest edgewear and vertical creasing along spine, minor surface rubbing to rear. Overall very good condition. An uncommon signed copy of Waters' second autobiography.