[2] In the 1940s she began acting on stage, in Los Angeles productions including The Little Foxes, Nine Pine Street, Anna Lucasta, The Member of the Wedding,[10] Winesburg, Ohio,[5] and The Male Animal.

On film, she had roles in The View from Pompey's Head (1955), Strange Intruder (1956), The Alligator People (1959), High Time (1960), and Wild in the Country (1961).

[4] On television, she appeared in episodes of Cavalcade of America (1955, 1956), My Little Margie (1955), Star Stage (1956), Chevron Hall of Stars (1956), The Fireside Theatre (1956), General Electric Theater (1956), The Ford Television Theatre (1956, 1957), The Loretta Young Show (1957), Wagon Train (1957), The Adventures of Jim Bowie (1958), The Texan (1958), and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1959).

She wrote a musical, American Rhapsody (1942), a series of radio scripts,[4] a novel,[13] and a collection of autobiographical essays, It's Good to Be Black (1953).

[15] Hugh H. Smythe reviewed It's Good to Be Black in The Crisis harshly, concluding that it "makes no real contribution towards improving relations between the races".