It has been 40 years since the making of The Color Purple. Wow. I was in Jr. High when I landed the role of "Young Celie." I didn't have the standard auditioning process. I remember the day when I went for an audition. I had to wait in line for hours until it was finally my turn to enter the auditorium at Morningside High School. While standing in line, I read Alice Walker's book I had received late the night before. When I read the part saying "Dear God," I gasped because I didn't know other little girls wrote to him, starting off saying Dear God like I did. Inside were three desks where the casting team was sitting behind. As I walked on stage, Ruben Cannon, one of the casting directors, spotted me from across the room and asked for my name. I introduced myself as Desreta Jackson, to which he asked me to turn around and looked me up and down. He then requested that I leave immediately and go to another location for callbacks. His voice sounded loud and assertive to me, but heck, I was a 12-year-old shy little girl. Every adult, at times, sounds loud and powerful to me. Although I wasn't nervous or excited, I was concerned about not having to return home because home was always full of consequences. Those consequences allowed me to connect, understand and form the methodology of my character, Celie. She was me, and I was her. "The more things change, the more they stay the same." In the picture, that is the most loving and caring person you would be honored to know left #AkousaBousia is an actual princess of an African country, an iconic actress, director, and writer. On the right is little old me. #thecolorpurple #purple #purplerising #desretajackson #akosuabusia #nettie #youncelie #youandmeusneverpart #colorpurple #blacksilkproducts #theblackhairconspiracy #warnerbros #desretajackson🙏 #whoopiegildberg #dannyglover #celie #thedesretajacksonstory