Celebrating Black History: Ruby Dee
Unlimited Whispers’ black history hero of the day is actress, playwright, screenwriter, activist, poet and journalist, Ruby Dee. Ruby is best known for starring in “A Raisin in the Sun” and “Do the Right Thing.” Learn more about Ruby and what makes her important to black history in the brief synopsis that follows.
Synopsis
Actress Ruby Dee grew up in Harlem and joined the American Negro Theatre in 1941. She is well known for collaborations with her husband, the late Ossie Davis. Dee’s films span a generation and include 1950′s The Jackie Robinson Story, 1961′s A Raisin in the Sun and 1988′s Do the Right Thing. In 2008, Dee received her first Oscar nomination for playing Mama Lucas in the hit film American Gangster.
Actor. Born Ruby Ann Wallace on October 27, 1923 in Cleveland, Ohio. The daughter of a train porter and a schoolteacher, Ruby Dee grew up in Harlem and attended Hunter College before joining the American Negro Theatre in 1941. The veteran stage, film and television luminary made her Broadway debut in the 1943 drama South Pacific,and took her first leading role in 1946′s Anna Lucasta.
Ruby Wallace married blues singer Frankie Dee in the mid 1940s but later divorced him and married actor Ossie Davis. Together, Dee and Davis wrote an autobiography in which they discuss their political activism as well as insights on their open marriage. Together they had three children; son, blues musician Guy Davis, and two daughters, Nora Day, and Hasna Muhammad. Dee has survived breast cancer for more than 30 years.
Dee and Davis were well-known civil rights activists. Among others, Dee is a member of Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the NAACP, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Delta Sigma Theta sorority and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Dee and Davis were personal friends of both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, with Davis giving the eulogy at Malcom’s funeral in 1965.
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, TN. Dee, who is a long time resident of New Rochelle, New York, was inducted into the Westchester County Women’s Hall of Fame on March 30, 2007 joining the ranks with past honorees, Hillary Clinton, Sally Ziegler and Nita Lowey.[11] In 2009 she received an Honorary Degree from Princeton University.
The diminutive African American actress rarely played typical black roles in film, and her repertoire varied from Shakespeare’s Cleopatra to the nave Lutiebelle in Purlie Victorious. She is also well known for her numerous collaborations with her husband, actor Ossie Davis, whom she married in 1948. Dee’s films span a generation and include 1950′s The Jackie Robinson Story,1961′s A Raisin in the Sun and 1988′s Do the Right Thing.
In 2008, Dee received her first Oscar nomination for her role as Mama Lucas, the mother of drug lord Frank Lucas, in the hit film American Gangster starring Denzel Washington. Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis were renowned for their work on behalf of equal opportunities for African Americans in the performing arts. In 2004, the couple received the Kennedy Center Honors for their contributions. They published their joint autobiography, With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together, in 2000. Ruby Dee penned her well received memoir, My One Good Nerve, in 1998.
