Ruby Dee's 100th Year Anniversary
Ruby Dee represents a lot in our lives as the gold standard of a true actress who lived a life in love of social activism including film. She was a trailblazer in our community for real. For decades, she has been a civil rights leader, an actress, a poet, a playwright, a screenwriter, a journalist, and a wife including a mother. She was inspired by legends like Ella Baker. Also, Ruby Dee lived through 2 centuries from World War II to the time of the first African American President in American history. Ruby Dee won many awards, and she was married to Ossie Davis since 1948. Cleveland, Ohio was the city of her birth. Later, she was raised in Harlem, NYC. She graduated from Hunter College in a degree in Romance languages by 1948. She worked in the American Negro Theater with Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, and Hilda Simms. She was in plays and films like The Jackie Robinson Story in 1950. She led in the play of King Lear in 1965. Her roles in Edge of the City, A Raisin in the Sun, and Peyton Place showed her range and talent involving acting performances. She won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for With Ossie and Ruby In this Life Together (with Ossie Davis and former President Jimmy Carter). She was in a choir on February 12, 2009 to honor the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln. Her relationship with Ossie Davis caused them to have 3 children. Ruby Dee was a member of CORE, the NAACP, SNCC, and SCLC. She was a member of the Harlem Writers Guild for over 40 years. She talked at the 1963 March on Washington. Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis were personal friends of both Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. The Urban League gave her the 1970 Frederick Douglas award. She and Ossie Davis were arrested at the headquarters of the NYPD to protest the police shooting of Amadou Diallo. Ruby Dee opposed the Iraq War. She lived in New Rochelle, NY for years. Ruby Dee was one of the greatest actresses of human history, and now we always honor her cherished, glorious legacy as a human being who was aligned with Black Excellence.
The Early Years
Ruby Dee was born on October 27, 1922 at Cleveland Ohio. She was the daughter of Gladys (nee Hightower) and Marshall Edward Nathaniel Wallace (who was a cook, waiter, and porter). After he mother left the family, Dee's father remarried to Emma Amelia Benson, a schoolteacher. Dee was raised in Harlem, New York City. Before attending Hunter College High School, she studied at Public Schools 119 and 136. Later, she graduated from Hunter College with a degree in Romance languages in 1945. She was a member of Delta Sigma Theta. Early on, Ruby Dee joined the American Negro Theater as an apprentice. Back then, black Americans had few opportunities in the film and theater industry. She worked with Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, and Hilda Simms. She appeared multiple time in Broadway like her first role in the ANT's 1946 production of Anna Lucasta. She first onscreen role was in That Man of Mine in 1946. Dee received national recognition for her role in the 1950 film of The Jackie Robinson Story. Her career in acting crossed all major forms of media over a span of eight decades, including the films A Raisin in the Sun, in which she recreated her stage role as a suffering housewife in the projects, and Edge of the City. She played both roles opposite Poitier. The film of Edge of the City was a 1957 film ahead of it time in showing non-stereotypical and courageous roles for black Americans on film. It was a movie about workers trying to survive in a cutthroat environment found in an urban landscape.
Activism and Her Husband Ossie Davis
Ruby Dee married blues singer Frankie Dee Brown in 1941 and used his middle name as her stage name. They divorced in 1945. Later, she married actor Ossie Davis in 1948. They met each other while costarring in Robert Ardery's 1946 Broadway play of Jeb. Together, the couple wrote an autobiography in discussing their political activism. They once had an open marriage, and later end that situation. They loved their 3 children who are blues musician Guy Davis, Nora Day, and Hasna Muhammad. Ruby Dee survived breast cancer of more than three decades. Ruby Dee was in the movies of Gone Are The Days! and The Incident. By 1963, Ruby Dee was on the show called The Fugitive. By 1964, she had a role in the soap opera called Peyton Place on September 15, 1964. She was nominated for Lead Actress in a Primetime Emmy Award for her role in the show called The Nurses. She won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1991. In 1965, Dee performed in lead roles at the American Shakespeare Festival as Kate in The Taming of the Shrew and Cordelia in King Lear, becoming the first black actress to portray a lead role in the festival. Her career in acting crossed all major forms of media over a span of eight decades. In 1968, Ruby Dee was part of the film Uptight about the black revolutionary movement. The fictional movement talks about the unjust assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Cleveland, Ohio.
During the 1960's, social and cultural massive changes existed in the United States of America plus the world. Ruby Dee and her husband, Ossie Davis, were in the middle of those changes. They were both leaders of the Civil Rights Movement and the overall black freedom movement (that has existed for centuries in America alone). In 1961, CORE (or the Congress of Racial Equality) organized Freedom Rides in the South to desegregate interstate public bus travel. The first live performance of Ossie's play called Purlie Victorious, is a benefit for CORE. CORE back then wanted an end to Jim Crow apartheid. It was a progressive group until after 1968 when it became more conservative. Both Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis were great friends to both Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee celebrated with Dr. King on the 100th performance of Purlie Victorious.
In 1963, Ossie Davis co-produced an off Broadway musical, Ballad For Bimshire, with associates Irving Burgie, Sylvester Leeks, Ewart Guinier, Ed Cambridge, and Loften Mitchell. Just before the March on Washington in 1963 took place, Dr. W.E.B. DuBois passed away in Ghana. During the March on Washington event, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis were emcees at the March On Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The March on Washington wasn't just about fighting for jobs. It was about fighting for economic rights, freedom, voting rights, and the overall change in society in general. After the march, 4 black girls were murdered by terrorists at the 16th Street Baptist Church at Birmingham, Alabama. It was one of the greatest tragedies in human history where girls, who just wanted to worship God, were murdered by racist cowards. That is why Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis (along with James Baldwin, John O. Killens, Clarence Jones, Odetta, and others) formed the Association of Artists for Freedom, which called for a Christmas boycott to protest the church bombing, and to make “our Christmas gifts contribution to civil rights organizations.” By 1964, the Civil Rights Act was signed into law by President Lyndon Baines Johnson. SNCC had Freedom Summer to try to register black voters in the South. In that same summer of 1964, 3 CORE civil rights workers were murdered at Philadelphia, Mississippi whose names are Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman. Rudy Dee's and Ossie Davis' friend Malcolm X was assassinated in Harlem on February 1965. Ossie Davis delivered the eulogy at his funeral. The Committee of Concerned Mother (created by Ruby Dee, Juanita Poitier, and others) raised funds to buy a home for Betty Shabazz or Malcolm X's widow including her six daughters. The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965 with 200,000 troops at Vietnam. Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis opposed the Vietnam War 100 percent, because the Vietnam War was immoral, unjust, and ruined so many lives.
“Martin King left us not only the example of his life and of his thoughts and his philosophies and his teachings, but this is more important to the young people in our country, to the black people in our country, he left us the example of his death. He knew it was coming, and he didn’t run, he didn’t change, he didn’t back down. He went forward and he met it like a black man always meets it,”
-Ossie Davis on April 5, 1968.
By 1966, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis participated in a Read in for Peace in Vietnam. In the same year, A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin promoted the Freedom Budget for All Americans (or an anti-poverty plan to defeat poverty by 1975). Also, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was created in 1966 at Oakland, California by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. In 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King publicly speaks out against the Vietnam War in New York City at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned about Vietnam (at Riverside Baptist Church). Ossie Davis spoke at the location too. After Dr. King was assassinated at Memphis in 1968, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee attended the Memorial march in Memphis, where Ossie spoke, and then the funeral took place in Atlanta. In 1968, Shirley Chisholm became the first African American woman to be elected to Congress.
The 1970's and the 1980's
The 1970's saw further cultural and social revolutions in American society including worldwide. In 1970, Ruby Dee won the Frederick Douglass Award from the New York Urban League. Ossie Davis directed his first film of Cotton Comes to Harlem in 1970. The movie is about a false political leader, cotton, and the black community living in new times. He directed a film in Nigeria that was an adaptation of Wole Soyinka's Kongi's Harvest. By 1971, Ruby Dee won Best Performance By An Actress with an Obie Award for her role in "Boesman and Lena." For the movie, she won the Drama Desk Award in 1971 for Outstanding Performance. In 1971, Ossie Davis worked with other artists in the Third World Cinema Corporation, which wants to grow minority presence in all aspects of the film industry. One of her famous roles in the 1970's was her involvement in the 1972 move called Buck and the Preacher (with Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte). She worked in films like Black Girl in 1972, Wedding Band, Roots: The Next Generation in 1979, and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in 1979. In 1972, Ruby Dee complies and edits Glowchild, an anthology of poetry written by young people. In 1975, Rudy Dee and Ossie Davis start their weekly radio show called The Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee Story House, on National Black Network. In 1975, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee were awarded the Actors’ Equity Paul Robeson Citation "for outstanding creative contributions both in the performing arts and in society at large." Roots aired on ABC in 1977 via Alex Haley. Ruby Dee's and Ossie Davis' first grandchild Ihsaana was born in 1977 too. In 1978, Ruby Dee started a weekly column called "Swinging Gently" for the New York Amsterdam News (that is geared to black Americans). In 1980, Ossie and Ruby form a family production company, now known as Emmalyn II Productions Company, Inc. / Dee-Davis Enterprises. With Ossie and Ruby begins its three-season run on PBS (two in partnership with KERA in Dallas, the last season with Howard University’s WHMM) back in 1980 too. Their 3rd grandchild Jihaad was born in 1982, and their fourth grandchild Brian was born in 1984. Jamaal, or their 5th grandchild, was born in 1986. 1986 was the year when Ossie Davis returned to Broadway in "I'm Not Rappaport." During the 1980's, Ruby Dee appeared on Reading Rainbow, The Golden Girls, 1988's Lincoln, China Beach, 1988's American Experience, and Do the Right Thing. Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing is about New York City in the midst of racism, police brutality, gentrification, and other social including racial conflicts that blows up. It describes NYC's 1980's society very accurately. 1989 was when Ruby Dee's play of Zora is My Name (first staged at Howard University) was adapted for television by PBS's American Playhouse series. In that year, David Dinkins was the first African American mayor of New York City. Douglas Wilder of Virginia was the first African American state governor since Reconstruction in 1989. Ruby Dee's children book called, "Two Ways to Count to Ten" won a Literary Guild Award in 1989. Imani, or Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee's 6h grandchild was born.
The 1990's
The 1990's saw massive changes for black people, and Ruby Dee was part of this reality. Martial, or Ruby Dee's Ossie Davis' 7th grandchild Martial, was born. In 1991, Ruby Dee won an Emmy award for her performance in Decoration Day. Ruby Dee was in the play The Disappearance from 1993 which was an adaptation of Rosa Guy's novel (and the first of her Books With Legs series). It premiered at Crossroads Repertory Theater. In 1995, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis received the National Medal of Art from President Bill Clinton. We know about Ossie Davis' role in 1996's film of Get on the Bus which is about the 1995 Million Man March. In 1996, Ruby Dee created her one woman show called, "My One Good Nerve" debuting in Seattle. In 1998, Ossie Davis and Ruby celebrated their 50th anniversary with the publication of their joint autobiography called, "With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together." In 1999, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis were arrested at 1 Police Plaza, the headquarters of the New York Police Department. They protested the unjust police shooting of Amadou Diallo.
The 21st Century Life of Ruby Dee
Ruby Dee worked hard in the 21st century too. In 2001, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis received the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award. Ossie Davis won a Daytime Emmy Award for his performance in "Finding Buck McHenry." In 2001, Ossie was in his final play called A Last Dance for Sybil. It's stage with Ruby Dee too. In early 2003, The Nation published "Not in Our Name", an open proclamation vowing opposition to the impending US invasion of Iraq. Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis were among the signatories, along with Robert Altman, Noam Chomsky, Susan Sarandon, and Howard Zinn, among others. By 2004, the couple received the Kennedy Center Honors. In 2005, Ossie Davis passed away at Florida. Ruby Dee mourned, and she posthumously received the Marian Anderson Award for Ossie Davis. In 2007, Ruby and (posthumously) Ossie win a Grammy® for the audio version of With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together. In November 2005, Dee was awarded – along with her late husband – the Lifetime Achievement Freedom Award, presented by the National Civil Rights Museum located in Memphis. Dee, a long-time resident of New Rochelle, New York, was inducted into the New Rochelle Walk of Fame which honors the most notable residents from throughout the community's 325-year history. She was also inducted into the Westchester County Women's Hall of Fame on March 30, 2007, joining such other honorees as Hillary Clinton and Nita Lowey.
In 2007, Ruby Dee was in the film American Gangster. That film was about the life of Frank Lucas (played by Denzel Washington). Ruby Dee played Frank Lucas' mother. In 2008, Ruby received her first Oscar nomination for playing Mama Lucas in the American Gangster film. By 2008, Barack Obama became the first African American elected as President of the United States of America. In 2009, she received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Princeton University. Ruby Dee continued to work. She was in the movie Dream Street in 2010. She played the movie Video Girl in 2011 as Valerie. Video Girl is about how many video models are victims of sexism, sexual abuse, and exploitation financially (and it outlines the courage of video models who fight back for their human dignity) back then to this very day. Video Girl showed what goes on in the music industry for real. No matter a person's occupation, that human being should be treated with dignity and respect. In 2011, she was in movies like Politics of Love and Red and Blue Marbles. She was involved in the documentary in 2012 called Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal. A Thousand Words featured her in 2012 too. Ruby Dee was the narrator of the film Betty and Coretta celebrating the lives of Coretta Scott King and Betty Shabazz. Her final role was in 1982 playing Rose Brown in 2013.
Her Transition
Ruby Dee transitioned at her home in New Rochelle, New York. She passed away on June 11, 2014 via natural causes. She was 91 years old. In a statement, Gil Robertson IV of the African American Film Critics Association said, "the members of the African American Film Critics Association are deeply saddened at the loss of actress and humanitarian Ruby Dee. Throughout her seven-decade career, Dee embraced different creative platforms with her various interpretations of black womanhood and also used her gifts to champion for Human Rights. " "She very peacefully surrendered", said her daughter Nora Day. "We hugged her, we kissed her, we gave her our permission to go. She opened her eyes. She looked at us. She closed her eyes, and she set sail." Following her death, the marquee on the Apollo Theater read: "A TRUE APOLLO LEGEND RUBY DEE 1922–2014." Ruby Dee was cremated, and her ashes are held in the same urn as that of Ossie Davis with the inscription of "in this thing together." A public memorial celebration honoring Dee was held on September 20, 2014, at the Riverside Church in Upper Manhattan. Their shared urn was buried at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.
Her Legacy
For almost one century, Ruby Dee has lived on this Earth expressing a monumental legacy for humanity. She was a giant among the long, glorious history of black people. Ruby Dee not only spoke about human justice. She earnestly fought for it. She helped to fight for the rights of black people and humanity overtly. Being of the one of greatest actresses in human history, her love of acting was always transparently clear. Love of family, love of justice, and love of her husband always were part of her life. Human beings like Septima Clark, Ella Baker, and others broke down barriers for her. Ruby Dee helped to break down barriers for future actresses like Angela Bassett, Anika Noni Rose, Halle Berry, Mary J. Blige, Gloria Reuben, Sanaa Lathan, Queen Latifah, Theresa Randle, and so many other women actresses showing their gifts to the world. Ruby Dee was never on the sidelines on social causes. For over 50 years, she has been on the frontlines (along with her husband Ossie Davis) calling for justice. Ruby Dee fought for black hairstylists to work with black people in film. She opposed police brutality and racial injustice. Ruby Dee wanted solutions to solve problems. Her love for black people is eternal, and the Black Love that Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis represented was majestic. Ruby Dee's legendary life should inspire future generations to achieve greatness triumphally. In 2022, I still have hope for the future as the drum still beats in our soul to continue on our walks toward real freedom.
Rest in Power Sister Ruby Dee.
By Timothy
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