Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee
About the Interviewees
This week, I was able to look into the lives of the late Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. Ruby Dee was an Ohio native born in 1922. She was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist. She originated the role of "Ruth Younger" in the stage and film versions of “A Raisin in the Sun”. Her other notable film roles include The Jackie Robinson Story and Do the Right Thing. I am familiar with her works, but I had no ideas about the woman that was behind the masterpieces. Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee’s husband, was a Georgia native born in 1917. He was an American writer, actor, director, and social activist who was best known for his contributions to African American theatre and film and for his passionate support for the efforts of the civil right movement. He was also noted for his artistic partnership with his wife, Ruby Dee. This was a film world Phenomenon.
Different Avenues
Throughout the interview, names and topics were mentioned that struck my interest, so I decided to search further into them. Here is what I found:
Ossie Davis mentioned the post World War II tensions in America especially in the black community. With further research I was about to learn more about it. When the Selective Training and Service Act became the nation’s first peacetime draft law in September 1940, civil rights leaders pressured President Franklin D. Roosevelt to allow Black men the opportunity to register and serve in integrated regiments. Although African Americans had participated in every conflict since the Revolutionary War, they had done so segregated, and FDR appointee Henry Stimson, the Secretary of War, was not interested in changing that. With a need to increase the population on the forefront, the U.S. Armed Forces Decided that Black men could register for the draft, but they would remain segregated and the military would determine the proportion of Blacks inducted into the service. The compromise represented the paradoxical experience that befell the 1.2 million African American men who served in World War II: They fought for democracy overseas while being treated like second-class citizens by their own country.
Two notable musicians were mentioned in the interview as well. The first name that I recognized was Harry Belafonte. My colleagues and I learned about his legacy last week. In case you missed the blog post, Harry Belafonte is an American singer, songwriter, activist, and actor. He is on of the of the most successful Jamaican American pop stars ever as he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s. He was very prominent in the civil rights movement, providing financial resources for SNCC and Dr. King and his family.
Second, we heard about Paul Roberson. Prior to him being mentioned in the interview, I was not familiar with him. Here is a little bit about Mr. Roberson... Throughout the late 1920s and 1930s, he was a widely acclaimed actor and singer. With songs such as his trademark “Ol' Man River,” he became one of the most popular concert singers of his time. His “Othello” was the longest-running Shakespeare play in Broadway history, running for nearly three hundred performances.
