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Ossie Davis 1917-2005: A Tribute to the Actor and Civil Rights
Activist
Danny Glover on Ossie Davis: "He Saw No Separation Between
His Social Commitment and His Artistic Commitment"
Ossie Davis Eulogizes Malcolm X in 1965: Malcolm Taught "Us
to Stand Up Off Of Our Knees to Address Ourselves to the Truth"
Ossie Davis Remembers Martin Luther King in 1968: King Was
"One of the Bravest Black Men We Have Lost in This Struggle"
Ossie Davis Protesting the Iraq War: "I Choose to Live
for Brotherhood and Not For Folly"
Mumia Abu Jamal Remembers Ossie Davis: "A Lion Has Fallen"
Ossie Davis 1917-2005: A Tribute to the Actor and
Civil Rights Activist
Actor and civil rights activist Ossie Davis died Friday
in Miami Beach. He was 87 years old. For half a century, Davis
led a distinguished career as an actor, playwright and director.
Along with his wife, Ruby Dee, he was a renowned civil rights
activist and an unforgettable figure in the African American
struggle for equality. We spend the hour remembering Ossie
Davis: From his eulogies to Malcolm X and Martin Luther King
to his opposition to the war in Iraq. We hear from actor Danny
Glover and journalist Herb Boyd and we play a commentary by
death row prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal. [includes rush
transcript]
Actor and civil rights activist, Ossie Davis has died. He
was found in a hotel room in Miami Beach Friday, where he
was making a movie. He was 87 years old.
For five decades, Ossie Davis had a distinguished career
as an actor, playwright and director. Along with his wife,
Ruby Dee, he was a renowned civil rights activist and an unforgettable
figure in the African American struggle for equality.
He performed in some 80 movies, including six with director
Spike Lee. Two months ago, he and Ruby Dee, were honored at
the Kennedy Center for their lifelong contributions to theater,
television and film, as well as for being models of courage
and grace in the long struggle for equality in the United
States.
Ossie Davis was born Dec. 18, 1917, in Cogdell, Georgia.
His given name was meant to be Raiford Chatman Davis, but
the registrar of births recorded what were supposed to be
the initials, "R.C.," as "Ossie" and it
remained his name ever since.
He grew up in the segregated south amid racism and the Ku
Klux Klan. As a young man, he hitchhiked to Washington, D.C.,
to attend Howard University. He dropped out at the end of
his junior year and moved to Harlem in New York City. In 1942,
he was drafted into the Army where he spent much of World
War II as a surgical technician in an Army hospital in Liberia.
After his discharge in 1945, he began career on the stage
in New York where he met fellow actor, Ruby Dee. They married
in December 1948 and were inseparable for the next 56 years.
In addition to their acting careers, Ossie Davis and Ruby
Dee had prominent roles on the nation's political stages.
They participated in marches for racial equality throughout
the South and participated in the 1963 March on Washington.
After Malcolm X was assassinated at a Harlem rally in 1965,
Ossie Davis wrote and delivered a eulogy at his funeral. In
1968, he eulogized the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.
Despite being blacklisted briefly in the 1950s McCarthyism
era, Davis often traveled to Washington to speak before congressional
committees about the arts or about opportunities for people
of color in Hollywood.
In 1992, Davis wrote a novel and in 1998 published an autobiography
with his wife titled, "With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life
Together." Davis continued his activism up until his
death, most recently protesting the war in Iraq.
- Ossie Davis, speaking at Riverside Church in New York
City, March 27, 2003.
Danny Glover on Ossie Davis: "He Saw No Separation
Between His Social Commitment and His Artistic Commitment"
To remember Ossie Davis, we speak with actor Danny Glover
and journalist Herb Boyd. Glover says, "I wanted to mirror
my career after Ossie Davis...He knew the role that culture
and art played in elevating us as human beings."
- Danny Glover, actor and activist. He joins us from Helsinki.
- Herb Boyd, journalist and author of "We Shall Overcome"
which includes an audio commentary of the civil rights movement
narrated by Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee.
Ossie Davis Eulogizes Malcolm X in 1965: Malcolm
Taught "Us to Stand Up Off Of Our Knees to Address Ourselves
to the Truth"
We play a recording of Ossie Davis delivering the eulogy
for Malcolm X at the Faith Temple Church Of God on February
27,1965. Davis says, "[Malcolm] talked to all of us:
Get up off your knees. Come out of your hiding place. If your
hiding place is gold, come out from behind it. If your hiding
place is prestige, come out from behind it. If your hiding
place is poverty, if you live in the slum, if you live in
the gutters, stand up, look at the sun, you too are a man."
[includes rush
transcript]
- Ossie Davis, delivering the eulogy for Malcolm X at the
Faith Temple Church Of God, February 27,1965. Courtesy of
the Pacifica
Radio Archives.
Ossie Davis Remembers Martin Luther King in 1968:
King Was "One of the Bravest Black Men We Have Lost in
This Struggle"
We play a recording of Ossie Davis speaking at a memorial
gathering for Martin Luther King in New York City on April
5th, 1968. Davis says, "As I stand before you, I don't
ask whether you are a white Martin, or whether you are a black
martin, I ask first if you are a man and second, if you believe
that men should stand or fall for freedom and third, if you
believe that the time for that freedom is now." [includes
rush
transcript]
- Ossie Davis, speaking at a memorial gathering in Central
Park, New York City, April 5th, 1968. Courtesy of the Pacifica
Radio Archives.
Ossie Davis Protesting the Iraq War: "I Choose
to Live for Brotherhood and Not For Folly"
We play in interview with Ossie Davis as he protested the
invasion of Iraq on March 22, 2003. Davis says, "The
choice is to live together as brothers, or perish together
as fools. I come together to say, I choose to live for brotherhood,
and not for folly. I choose peace and not war. I choose life,
and not death."
- Ossie Davis, interviewed at protest against the Iraq
war, March 22, 2003.
Mumia Abu Jamal Remembers Ossie Davis: "A Lion
Has Fallen"
We play a prison radio commentary by journalist and death
row prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal. He remembers Ossie Davis and
plays an interview with him from 1980.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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