“An icon.” – USA Today
“The Martin Luther King Jr. of Movies.” – Vanity Fair
Sidney Poitier – actor, director, diplomat and first African American and Bahamian actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1964.
Sidney Poitier’s parents were from the Bahamas, but Poitier himself was born in 1927 in Miami, Florida giving him immediate U.S. citizenship.
He joined the American Negro Theatre, founded in 1940 as a “people’s theatre” inspired by W.E.B. Dubois’ fundamental principles that Black drama should be by, about for, and new African Americans. In his late 20’s, Poitier was cast in what would become his breakout role in Blackboard Jungle, a 1955 film about teachers in an interracial inner-city school, and began his long and successful career in film.
His lifetime is studded with a myriad of accolades in addition to his Academy Award. Poitier was granted knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in 1974. In 1997 he became the Bahamian ambassador to Japan. In 2002, he was the ambassador of the Bahamas to UNESCO.
He will always be remembered for the way he made a path for other African American and Black actors, not just in the United States but worldwide.
“Before Sidney, African American actors had to take supporting roles in major studio films that were easy to cut out in certain parts of the country. But you couldn’t cut Sidney Poitier out of a Sidney Poitier picture.” – Denzel Washington
