Black celebrities have displayed their leadership and
prowess in the arts, entertainment, music and
sports, but also in terms of their commitment
to the struggles in the community. Before the
likes of Denzel Washington. John Legend,
LeBron James, Jesse Williams, Michael B.
Jordan and John Boyega stepped on the scene,
there was Sidney Poitier.
Poitier - the first Black Man to win an academy award for best actor in 1964 with
his role in “Lilies of the Field” - was a
brilliant artist and a civil rights activist
who showed us how to stand up for Black
people.
Although many people know of his on-the-screen excellence
with films such as “To Sir With Love,” “In the
Heat of the Night,” “A Raisin in the Sun,”
“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” and
“Blackboard Jungle,” fewer may know about
Poitier’s involvement in the Civil Rights
movement and social causes.
For example, Poitier was a founder of the Committee
for the Negro in the Arts, an organization of left-wing performers that was
committed to Black cultural nationalism and
challenged racism and class exploitation. As a
result of his involvement in the group,
Poitier was blacklisted for a few years.
Active and outspoken on civil rights, Poitier joined other
celebrities such as Harry Belafonte at the
1963 March on Washington with Martin Luther
King Jr.
“The urgency that was evident today has been bubbling in
me…out of a necessity to survive,” Poitier
said in a video produced after the march. “I am forced to
participate because it is my conviction that
my country has to successfully negotiate the
Negro Question…we must as a country
successfully negotiate that…to become eligible
for participation in the future… The stamina
and texture to endeavor to solve the Negro
question will exemplify for me the kind of
interest the country as a whole has in doing
the things that are necessary to be entitled
to a future.”
Hollywood
Roundtable (1963)
A particularly remarkable Sidney Poitier story that few
know about was a risky car trip that he and
Harry Belafonte took from Newark to Greenwood,
Mississippi. The year was 1964, only days after three civil rights
workers - James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and
Andrew Goodman - were found dead. The Student
Nonviolence Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
needed funds to keep their activities going.
Belafonte and Poitier raised $70,000 and drove
the money down to Mississippi, where the Ku
Klux Klan ambushed them with a pickup truck,
fired shots and attempted to drive them off
the road. A convoy of SNCC vehicles came to
their defense and led them to safety.
Later in his career, Poitier was appointed ambassador from
the Bahamas to Japan, and ambassador of the
Bahamas to UNESCO. In 2009, President Obama
awarded Poitier the Presidential
Medal of Freedom, the highest honor for a civilian.
Known for his class, eloquence and elegance, Sidney
Poitier played leaders and heroes on the big
screen. But in the real world, he was a true
leader and hero for Black people who risked
his life for racial justice.
