Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis (1917–2005) was an American actor, playwright, director, and civil rights activist whose work spanned theater, film, and television.
Ruby Dee: Ruby Dee was an American actor, playwright, and civil rights activist who worked extensively with Ossie Davis. His wife and longtime artistic partner shared stages, screens, and political commitments with him.
Purlie Victorious: Purlie Victorious is Ossie Davis’s satirical 1961 play about a Black preacher challenging segregation in the American South. Davis wrote and starred in this comic attack on racial oppression.
Theater directing: Theater directing is the practice of shaping a stage production’s interpretation, performances, and visual composition. Davis directed plays as well as acting and writing them.
Black Arts Movement: The Black Arts Movement was a cultural movement of the 1960s and 1970s that promoted Black artistic expression and political self-determination. Davis’s politically committed art shared the movement’s insistence that culture could advance liberation.
Paul Robeson: Paul Robeson was an American singer, actor, and political activist whose career challenged racial barriers. Robeson’s example helped shape Davis’s commitment to politically engaged Black performance.
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman: The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is a 1974 television film about a Black woman’s life across generations of American history. Davis’s performance as a schoolteacher anchored a celebrated television drama.
African-American theater: African-American theater comprises dramatic works and performance traditions created by and about Black Americans. His plays and performances contributed to a tradition asserting Black stories on American stages.
NAACP: The NAACP is an American civil rights organization founded in 1909 to advance racial justice and equality. Davis supported the organization’s struggle against racial discrimination.
Lorraine Hansberry: Lorraine Hansberry was an American playwright whose work explored Black life and racial inequality. Davis and Dee performed in Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, a landmark of Black theater.
Do the Right Thing: Do the Right Thing is Spike Lee’s 1989 film about racial tensions in a Brooklyn neighborhood on a hot summer day. Davis played Da Mayor, one of his best-known later film roles.