Black History Month's Person of the Day: Sidney Poitier

[PurpleArmy]

Today's (2/11) Black History Month's Person of the Day is Sidney Poitier. (1927- )
Actor/Director

Born February 20, 1927 in Miami, Florida. Born prematurely on the high seas en route to Miami, Poitier grew up in The Bahamas. His youth was filled with delinquency, and his parents eventually sent him to live with his brother in Florida at age 16. Poitier served a short stint in the United States Army before moving to New York to pursue an acting career.

A student at the American Negro Theater in New York City, Poitier appeared on stage and in films before making his Hollywood debut in 1950. Cast mainly in supporting roles, he won an Oscar for Lilies of the Field (1963). The win marked the first Oscar awarded to a black actor and made Poitier cinema's first African American superstar, one who consciously defied racial stereotyping. Handsome and unassuming, he brought dignity to the portrayal of noble and intelligent characters, including Philadelphia detective Virgil Tibbs in In the Heat of the Night (1967). Other notable films include The Defiant Ones and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967).

During the 1970s he also began to direct, producing a number of lowbrow comedies such as the successful Richard Pryor-Gene Wilder vehicle Stir Crazy (1980) and Ghost Dad (1990). He returned to acting after a 10-year absence, appearing in Shoot to Kill (1988), Little Nikita (1988), Sneakers (1992), and One Man, One Vote (1997). In 2001, he received a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for his autobiographical book The Measure of a Man. In 2002, he received and an honorary Oscar.

Poitier was married to Juanita Hardy from 1950 until 1965; the couple has four children. He is currently married to Canadian-born actress Joanna Shimkus, they have two children. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the British Empire in 1974, which entitles him to use the title "Sir," though he chooses not to do so. He has also served as non-resident Bahamian ambassador to Japan and to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

http://www.africanamericans.com/images2/SidneyPoitierOscar.jpg




Today's Quote:

"If we accept and acquiesce in the face of discrimination, we accept the responsibility ourselves and allow those responsible to salve their conscience by believing that they have our acceptance and concurrence. We should, therefore, protest openly everything . . . that smacks of discrimination or slander." - Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955)

[CarlE]

Why can't we ban her?

[PurpleArmy]

Why can't we ban her?

What's up with you today, Carle? A couple weeks ago, you send me a PM stating that you have no problem with me and are friends with JWest and that "Hopefully, we can all hook up for a brew when I come home."

So which is it? Banned or a brew? :laughing:

Is it that time of the month, CarlE? Because you seem to be so cranky over the last couple days. :laughing:

[CarlE]

What's up with you today, Carle? A couple weeks ago, you send me a PM stating that you have no problem with me and are friends with JWest and that "Hopefully, we can all hook up for a brew when I come home."

So which is it? Banned or a brew? :laughing:

Is it that time of the month, CarlE? Because you seem to be so cranky over the last couple days. :laughing:

I'm just sick of posts that are on here to do nothing but start controversy and piss people off. You're VERY good at that.

[PurpleArmy]

I'm just sick of posts that are on here to do nothing but start controversy and piss people off. You're VERY good at that.

To me, there's nothing controversial about Black History Month.

[orangeblood]

In keeping with that booring first post, here is a booring link about purple, from wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PURPLE

Are we all awake yet? lol:blah:

[DragonTigerNemesis]

To me, there's nothing controversial about Black History Month...

Right, it's not you, its the rest of the world.

Just like you didn't think it would be controversial to start a thread about Brokeback Mountain.

---or about your wonderful, best TV and how you couldn't wait to see Prince the Purple at halftime.



The only thing more amusing than your affected naivete is everyone's obsession with it.

:kungfu:

[tiger36]

Rosa Parks
The Woman Who Changed a Nation

By Kira Albin



When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man forty years ago on December 1, 1955, she was tired and weary from a long day of work.

At least that's how the event has been retold countless times and recorded in our history books. But, there's a misconception here that does not do justice to the woman whose act of courage began turning the wheels of the civil rights movement on that fateful day.

Rosa Parks was physically tired, but no more than you or I after a long day's work. In fact, under other circumstances, she would have probably given up her seat willingly to a child or elderly person. But this time Parks was tired of the treatment she and other African Americans received every day of their lives, what with the racism, segregation, and Jim Crow laws of the time.

"Our mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it," writes Parks in her recent book, Quiet Strength, (ZondervanPublishingHouse, 1994). "I kept thinking about my mother and my grandparents, and how strong they were. I knew there was a possibility of being mistreated, but an opportunity was being given to me to do what I had asked of others."

The rest of Parks' story is American history...her arrest and trial, a 381-day Montgomery bus boycott, and, finally, the Supreme Court's ruling in November 1956 that segregation on transportation is unconstitutional.

But Parks' personal history has been lost in the retelling. Prior to her arrest, Mrs. Parks had a firm and quiet strength to change things that were unjust. She served as secretary of the NAACP and later Adviser to the NAACP Youth Council, and tried to register to vote on several occasions when it was still nearly impossible to do so. She had run-ins with bus drivers and was evicted from buses. Parks recalls the humiliation: "I didn't want to pay my fare and then go around the back door, because many times, even if you did that, you might not get on the bus at all. They'd probably shut the door, drive off, and leave you standing there."

Parks has met many renowned leaders and has traveled throughout the world receiving honors and awards for her efforts toward racial harmony. She is appreciative and honored by them but exhibits little emotion over whom she has met or what she has done. Her response to being called "the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement" is modest. "If people think of me in that way, I just accept the honor and appreciate it," she says. In Quiet Strength, however, Parks is careful to explain that she did not change things alone. "Four decades later I am still uncomfortable with the credit given to me for starting the bus boycott. I would like [people] to know I was not the only person involved. I was just one of many who fought for freedom."

Forty years later, despite some tremendous gains, Parks feels, "we still have a long way to go in improving the race relations in this country."



Ms. Rosa Parks died October 24, 2005 at her home in Detroit. She was 92.


"We don't have enough young people who are concerned and who are exposed to the civil rights movement, and I would like to see more exposure and get their interest," she says, pausing to reflect, "but I think it should just be history, period, and not thinking in terms of only Black History Month."



Purple Army.
It's the Older and the Ignorant are the ones that wont change.1/2 of our team is Black and you Being a Tiger and I a former Tiger and invoved with the Program see that there is no place for racial disharmony.:afro:

[PurpleArmy]

Purple Army.
It's the Older and the Ignorant are the ones that wont change.1/2 of our team is Black and you Being a Tiger and I a former Tiger and invoved with the Program see that there is no place for racial disharmony.:afro:

I agree about older people sometimes being not as tolerant. My grandparents were pretty racist when it came to people of color: whether black, hispanic or asian.

It's not their fault, really, I think it's just because things were different when they were growing up and they don't see a problem with treating other races as second class citizens. Of course, that was how things were back in the 1930's and 1940's when people of my grandparents age were growing up.

[CarlE]

Rosa Parks

Purple Army.
It's the Older and the Ignorant are the ones that wont change.1/2 of our team is Black and you Being a Tiger and I a former Tiger and invoved with the Program see that there is no place for racial disharmony.:afro:

Um, I hate to break this to you but she is NOT a Tiger, nor has she ever been. Although she has relations throughout her family that WERE Tigers. And dang good ones. She went to Jackson, lives in Jackson and her children go to Jackson. So before you start with the tolerant stuff get your facts straight.

This is NOT a reflection of said subjects, or the school districts that they support. It was just a factual statement to clear up a statement that was NOT factual.

[PurpleArmy]

Um, I hate to break this to you but she is NOT a Tiger, nor has she ever been. Although she has relations throughout her family that WERE Tigers. And dang good ones. She went to Jackson, lives in Jackson and her children go to Jackson. So before you start with the tolerant stuff get your facts straight.

This is NOT a reflection of said subjects, or the school districts that they support. It was just a factual statement to clear up a statement that was NOT factual.

Carle is correct. Although most of my family members are WHS alumni and a few played football there, I have always lived in Jackson Twp.

But thank you Carle, for saying that some of my family were good football players. Very nice of you. However, I don't think where I went to school has anything to do with tiger36 voicing his opinion about Black History Month towards me. I agree with him and appreciated his comment.

[CarlE]

Carle is correct. Although most of my family members are WHS alumni and a few played football there, I have always lived in Jackson Twp.

But thank you Carle, for saying that some of my family were good football players. Very nice of you. However, I don't think where I went to school has anything to do with tiger36 voicing his opinion about Black History Month towards me. I agree with him and appreciated his comment.

I was somehow trying to fit that about tiger36 in there but couldn't come up with the right verbiage.

[PurpleArmy]

I was somehow trying to fit that about tiger36 in there but couldn't come up with the right verbiage.

No problem Carle.