Therenare so many pro athletes, musicians, and actors who happen to benblack, it’s hard to remember—hard to believe, even—that there wasna time when these professions were basically closed to people ofnAfrican or African American descent. But in all these fields, therenwere “firsts” who strove and tried and worked and cried, and whonbroke down racial barriers.
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nSidneynPoitier, who was born in Florida on this date in 1927, lived with hisnfamily on Cat Island in the Bahamas and traveled with them as theynsold produce from their farm. At age 15 he moved to the U.S. forngood—first to Miami with his brother, then, at age 17, to New YorknCity. He earned money by washing dishes at restaurants, and henlearned to read from a kind Jewish waiter who sat with him everynnight for several weeks helping him read a newspaper. He served innthe army; when he got out he continued to work as a dishwasher untilnhe landed a spot in the American Negro Theater. n
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nAudiencesndidn’t take to him at first. They expected black actors to sing—andnhe was tone deaf. They probably didn’t understand him verynwell—because he had a noticeable Bahamian accent.
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nTherenwas nothing Poitier could do about his tone deafness, but he workednhard to get rid of his accent and dedicated himself to his acting. Henstarted to get good reviews, and soon he was getting noticed inninteresting and challenging roles.
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nSidneynPoitier became the first male black actor to be nominated for ancompetitive Academy Award, for 1958’s The Defiant Ones, andnlater he became the first black actor to win the Academy Award fornBest Actor, for 1963’s Lilies of the Field. Later he made suchnpopular films such as Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, To Sirnwith Love, and In the Heat of the Night. For years he wasnthe only major black actor in the American film industry.
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| I only saw a few movies when I was a kid. (I’m talking maybe five times before I was in college that I went into a movie theater!) And two of those movies were these, starring Sidney Poitier! |
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nInn2002 Sidney Poitier received an Honorary Academy Award, and in 2009nhe received the highest civilian honor in the U.S., the PresidentialnMedal of Freedom, from President Barack Obama.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nFredericknDouglass Day
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Anniversarynof the pawning of certain Norwegian islands
Anniversarynof the pawning of certain Norwegian islandsn
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