A Tribute to Ruby Dee

Last Wednesday, we lost another great cultural pioneer; actress poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and activist Ruby Dee. She first planted her theatrical roots working as an apprentice, at the American Negro Theater, working alongside acting legends Sidney Poitier, Hilda Simms, and Harry Belafonte. She started making several appearances in various productions on Broadway, and made history in 1965 as being the first African American actress to appear as a leading role in the American Shakespeare Festival, starring as Kate in The Taming of the Shrew and Cordelia in King Lear. She also started appearing in film roles, starring as Ruth Younger in the Film adaptation in A Raisin in the Sun in 1961, opposite Sidney Poitier. Ruby Dee continued to work as an actress throughout the entirety of her life, never allowing her star to dim, playing the role of Mother Sister in Spike Lee’s classic film, Do the Right Thing, and Mama Lucas in the Ridley Scott film, American Gangster. Her accolades for her creative work include and Academy Award for her role in American Gangster, a Grammy, Emmy, Obie, Drama Desk Award, The Kennedy Center Honors Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, and a National Metal of the Arts.

Ruby Dee met husband and fellow actor, Ossie Davis in 1946, while co-starring in the 1946 Broadway play, Jeb. The couple became regarded as Mr. and Mrs. of Broadway, during a period in American history in which the expectations for African American citizens were minimal, and together they burst through the glass ceiling of societal oppression and racism, proving that there is zero correlation between skin color and the scope of one’s talent. In addition to being an acting duo, they were also well known and highly respected civil rights activists; Ruby Dee was a member of the NAACP, Congress of Racial Equality, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, even emceeing March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Ossie and Ruby continued to work as a team politically, creatively, and romantically, for 57 years, until Ossie Davis’ death in 2005.  Ruby Dee passed away on June 11, 2014, at the age of 91, and though she is gone in body, her spirit lives on through the incredible legacy she left behind.  Miss Jessie’s would like thank Ruby Dee for all her contributions to society, and pay tribute to her memory by sharing some of our favorite Ruby Dee moments with you. Though a tragic loss, we hope revisiting these glimpses of her incredible talent and strength will inspire you.