Pallbearers carry the casket of pioneering Black actor Cicely Tyson from Harlem's famed Abyssinian Baptist Church to a hearse on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021. The New York-born actor was 96. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)NEW YORK – Tyler Perry and Bill and Hillary Clinton were among the attendees of a private memorial service for Cicely Tyson at Harlem's famed Abyssinian Baptist Church. It was very Cicely Tyson: It was formal, it was humorous, it was sad, it was glorious,” said Larry Thompson, Tyson's manager for more than 40 years. The New York-born actor was 96.

People wait on line to attend a public viewing for Cicely Tyson at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in the Harlem neighborhood of New York, Monday, Feb. 15, 2021. Tyson, the pioneering Black actress died on Jan. 28. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)NEW YORK – People traveled across the country and stood in a block-long line to pay respects to Cicely Tyson at a public viewing Monday. Hundreds of admirers of the pioneering Black actor lined up outside Harlem's famed Abyssinian Baptist Church on a wintry Monday. Many in the multigenerational crowd held photos of Tyson, who died Jan. 28.

(AP Photo/W.A.Harewood, File)LOS ANGELES – Cicely Tyson was a Black actor who knocked down doors so other women of color could walk through them. Tyson strategically selected powerful roles with an intent to elevate how Black actors were perceived. Tyson desired to get away from the negative portrayals of Black women with the hopes of highlighting them with powerful prestige. “Tyson showed the world that the Black woman is more than a moment. He went on to say that Tyson “became a vessel through which all the dignity of who she was as a Black person, a Black woman, could flow.”Tyson’s fame transcended all media.