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Speaker 1: Hey, they're history fans. We're off for President's Day, but

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Speaker 1: don't worry, We've got plenty of classic shows to tide

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Speaker 1: you over. Please enjoy these flashback episodes from the T

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Speaker 1: D i h C Vault, and be sure to tune

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Speaker 1: in tomorrow for a brand new episode. See you then.

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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show that pays tribute to people of the past

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Speaker 1: by telling their stories. Today, I'm Gay Bluesier, and today

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Speaker 1: we're celebrating the life of one of the finest actors

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Speaker 1: to ever grace the silver screen, a true pioneer of

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Speaker 1: American cinema, Mr Sidney Quadier. The day was February. Legendary

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Speaker 1: actor Sydney quatty A was born in Miami, Florida. His

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Speaker 1: parents were farmers from the Bahamas, and they routinely traveled

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Speaker 1: to Miami to sell their tomato crop. On their visit.

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Speaker 1: In early nineteen twenty seven, Sydney's mother went into labor

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Speaker 1: several months early, causing her son to be born a

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Speaker 1: dual citizen of both the United States and the Bahamas.

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Speaker 1: Although he was born in Miami, Sydney Poitier grew up

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Speaker 1: on cat Island in the Bahamas, the youngest of nine children.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen thirty seven, his family moved to Nassau after

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Speaker 1: the state of Florida banned the import of tomatoes from

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Speaker 1: the Bahamas. To help make up for that lost income,

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Speaker 1: Sydney dropped out of school at age twelve and took

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Speaker 1: a job as a water boy for a group of

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Speaker 1: day laborers. Over time, his parents noticed he was getting

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Speaker 1: in a lot more trouble than he had in school.

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Speaker 1: They worried their son was heading down the wrong path

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Speaker 1: in the Bahamas, so when he turned fourteen, they arranged

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Speaker 1: for him to live in Miami with one of his

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Speaker 1: older married brothers. As a black teen, growing up in

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Speaker 1: the Bahamas, Sydney Poitiers had never experienced racial segregation. He

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Speaker 1: had been able to travel freely without being questioned, to

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Speaker 1: enter any establishment, and to take whichever seat he wanted.

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Speaker 1: But by returning to the land of his birth, he

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Speaker 1: had suddenly become a second class citizen, one who was

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Speaker 1: subject to the same rules and restrictions as other black

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Speaker 1: Americans in the South. He later reflected on his early

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Speaker 1: encounters with American racism saying, quote, it was all over

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Speaker 1: the place like barbed wire, and I kept running into

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Speaker 1: it and lacerating myself. By the time he turned fifteen,

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Speaker 1: Sydney Poitiers had ditched Miami in favor of New York City,

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Speaker 1: but life in the Big Apple wasn't much easier. He

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Speaker 1: had arrived with just three dollars in his pocket, and

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Speaker 1: so desperate for work, he took on whatever odd jobs

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Speaker 1: he could find, dishwasher, deliveryman, ditch digger, you name it.

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Speaker 1: The little money he made was never enough, and sometimes

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Speaker 1: the only shelter he could afford on cold nights or

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Speaker 1: pay toilets. A year later, in late nineteen forty three,

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Speaker 1: Sydney Poitier lied about his age and enlisted in the U. S. Army.

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Speaker 1: For the next year, he served as an orderly in

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Speaker 1: a medical unit at a veteran's hospital on Long Island.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen forty five, he obtained the discharge and returned

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Speaker 1: to New York, where he took an interest in theater.

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Speaker 1: He saw a notice in the Amsterdam News that the

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Speaker 1: American Negro Theater was looking for new actors. On a whim,

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Speaker 1: he decided to audition. It's ah didn't go so well,

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Speaker 1: he read slowly and struggled to pronounce longer words. He

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Speaker 1: was also hard to understand due to his strong West

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Speaker 1: Indian accent. It was such a poor showing that of

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Speaker 1: the theater's founders, Frederick O'Neill, leaped onto the stage, snatched

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Speaker 1: the script from his hand, and marched him to the door.

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Speaker 1: The furious director said that Sidney was wasting everyone's time

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Speaker 1: and suggested that he get a job as a dishwasher instead.

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Speaker 1: That struck a chord with Poitier, who had worked as

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Speaker 1: a dishwasher before joining the army, and had indeed recently

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Speaker 1: returned to the job. In interview with the American Academy

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Speaker 1: of Achievement, the actor recalled the profound impact that encounter

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Speaker 1: had on his life. He said, how did he know

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Speaker 1: that I was a dish washer? He suspected I didn't

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Speaker 1: tell him. I didn't see anything about dish washing. And

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Speaker 1: I realized then and there that what he said was

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Speaker 1: his perception of my worth. He perceived me to be

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Speaker 1: of no value beyond something that I could do with

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Speaker 1: my hands. And while he was correct in his anger

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Speaker 1: to characterize me that way, I was offended. I was

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Speaker 1: offended deeply, and I said to myself, I have to

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Speaker 1: rectify that. I have to show him that he was

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Speaker 1: wrong about me. I decided then and there that I

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Speaker 1: was like, this is a wild decision that I made,

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Speaker 1: of course, but I did decide that at that moment,

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Speaker 1: on that street, that I am going to be an

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Speaker 1: actor just to show him that he was wrong about me.

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Speaker 1: And then I would give up the acting because I

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Speaker 1: have I'm not what do I want to be an

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Speaker 1: actor for? And so determined to prove his worth, Sydney

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Speaker 1: Plotier bought a radio and spent the next six months

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Speaker 1: practicing American and nunciation as he heard it from radio announcers.

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Speaker 1: He also got reading lessons from an older gentleman he

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Speaker 1: worked with at the restaurant where he washed dishes. Finally,

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Speaker 1: after months of preparation, the actor auditioned again, and while

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Speaker 1: it went much better than the first time, he was

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Speaker 1: still rejected. Undeterred, Sydney Poitier made a bold, if not

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Speaker 1: humbling move. He volunteered to work as a janitor without

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Speaker 1: pay in exchange for a chance to study in the

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Speaker 1: theater's acting school. The directors agreed, and Poitier went on

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Speaker 1: to appear in a series of productions at the American

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Speaker 1: Negro Theater. His big break came in ninety six when

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Speaker 1: he was cast in an all black Broadway production of

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Speaker 1: the ancient Greek play Lissa Strata. Four years later, Sydney

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Speaker 1: Poitier made his big screen debut in No Way Out,

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Speaker 1: where he played the role of Dr. Luther Brooks, a

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Speaker 1: black doctor who treats a bigoted white criminal. The movie

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Speaker 1: set the tone for much of the actor's career. Rather

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Speaker 1: than accepting demeaning roles they've catered to racial stereotypes, he

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Speaker 1: would primarily play saintly characters, pillars of manners and morals

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Speaker 1: who would prove the stupidity of racism by responding to

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Speaker 1: its slights with poise and civility. For example, in The

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Speaker 1: Defiant Ones, Poitier plays a prisoner who escapes while shackle

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Speaker 1: to a racist white inmate played by Tony Curtis. Why

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Speaker 1: you're just too sensitive, man. I'm to nothing that's right.

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Speaker 1: You're to nothing that's right. But I got a little

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Speaker 1: advice for you, man, because I like you. Man. You

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Speaker 1: gotta take things as they are. You can't keep finding

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Speaker 1: them unless you want to be unhappy. I see you've

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Speaker 1: got a lot to learn, boy. Thank you living in

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Speaker 1: a fancy hotel. Yeah, likely living in a fancy hotel.

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Speaker 1: You think they will let me and a fancy tell too. Oh,

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Speaker 1: sure they're gonna let you in that hotel through the

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Speaker 1: back door. If you've got a pale in a mop

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Speaker 1: and you through the front door just long enough to

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Speaker 1: collect your tip. What's it's because I called you in name.

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Speaker 1: Over the course of the movie, Curtis's character gradually comes

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Speaker 1: to recognize the humanity of his partner, and the pair

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Speaker 1: eventually form a strong bond. At the time, the movie

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Speaker 1: was heralded for its provocative theme of racial harmony, and

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Speaker 1: Poitier actually earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for

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Speaker 1: his role, the first time an African American man had

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Speaker 1: gotten a nod in the lead category. Roles like that

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Speaker 1: made crucial inroads to Hollywood for black actors who followed Poitier,

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Speaker 1: But during the height of the Civil rights movement, many

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Speaker 1: saw Poitier's characters as two measured and restrained in the

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Speaker 1: face of virulent racism. His characters, though clearly angry beneath

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Speaker 1: the surface, always managed to keep their cool. They countered

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Speaker 1: injustice with reason and responded to intolerance with forgiveness. This

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Speaker 1: was interpreted by many as a way to accommodate white

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Speaker 1: audiences and to reassure them that the only correct way

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Speaker 1: to push back against racism was with a quiet, measured,

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Speaker 1: dignified response. It's an understandable criticism, but not a very

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Speaker 1: charitable one. While limiting and by no means perfect, the

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Speaker 1: roles played by Poitier were a huge step up for

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Speaker 1: the portrayal of blackness in Hollywood. The weight of that

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Speaker 1: racial representation was something the actor shouldered throughout his career,

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Speaker 1: and it wasn't a responsibility he took lightly. As he

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Speaker 1: later explained, quote, I felt very much as if I

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Speaker 1: were representing fifteen eighteen million people with every move I made.

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Speaker 1: If the fabric of society were different, I would scream

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Speaker 1: to high Heaven to play villains and to deal with

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Speaker 1: different images of Negro life that would be more dimensional.

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Speaker 1: But I'll be damned if I do that at this

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Speaker 1: stage of the game. All I can say is that

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Speaker 1: there's a place for people who are angry and defiant,

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Speaker 1: and sometimes they serve a purpose. But that's never been

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Speaker 1: my role. Although he was reserved and non confrontational by nature,

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Speaker 1: Sydney Poitier was still a passionate, outspoken advocate for racial

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Speaker 1: justice and civil rights. He took part in the nineteen

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Speaker 1: sixty three March on Washington, and a year later, during

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Speaker 1: what was known as the Freedom Summer, Poitier worked with

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Speaker 1: fellow actor Harry Belafonte to raise and deliver seventy thousand

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Speaker 1: dollars to black rights activists in Mississippi. They wound up

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Speaker 1: being chased out of town by armed members of the

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Speaker 1: Ku Klux Klan, but luckily they got away unharmed. That

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Speaker 1: same year, Sydney Poitier made history by becoming the first

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Speaker 1: African American to win the Academy Award for Best Actor

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Speaker 1: for the role he played in Lilies of the Field.

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Speaker 1: Poitier starred as Homer Smith, a former g I turned

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Speaker 1: wandering handyman who gets tricked and later charmed into helping

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Speaker 1: a group of German nuns build a chapel in the

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Speaker 1: Arizona Desert before pilot. Then they crucified him, but he

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Speaker 1: rose on Easter man a man Hallelujah. He died. It

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Speaker 1: took thirty eight years, but in two thousand two, Denzel

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Speaker 1: Washington became the second African American actor to win the

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Speaker 1: award for his role in Training Day. In his acceptance speech,

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Speaker 1: Washington saluted Poitier, saying quote, I'll always be chasing you, Sydney.

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Speaker 1: I'll always be following in your footsteps. There's nothing I

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Speaker 1: would rather do, sir, nothing I would rather do. In

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Speaker 1: his own career, Sidney Poitier continued to break the boundaries

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Speaker 1: of Hollywood. In nineteen sixty seven, he appeared in three

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Speaker 1: of the top grossing films of the year to Sir

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Speaker 1: With Love, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and In the

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Speaker 1: Heat of the Night. The success made him one of

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Speaker 1: the highest paid actors of the era and one of

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Speaker 1: the most reliable box office draws. Audiences who longed to

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Speaker 1: see a more confrontational side of Poitier got their wish

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Speaker 1: and In the Heat of the Night. In that film,

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Speaker 1: the actor plays one of his most famous characters, Virgil Tibbs,

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Speaker 1: a Philadelphia detective who winds up investigating a murder in

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Speaker 1: Mississippi alongside a lazy racist sheriff played by Rod Steeger.

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Speaker 1: In one of the film's most powerful moments, the sheriff

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Speaker 1: calls the black detective a racial slur, and then mockingly

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Speaker 1: asks what they call him up in Philadelphia. He indignantly responds,

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Speaker 1: they call me Mr Tabs, Mr Tips. Well, Mr what

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Speaker 1: Mr TIMPs? Take him down to the depot. I mean, boy, like, now,

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Speaker 1: have the FBI laps and you the report on this,

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Speaker 1: not that it will make any difference. I'll taste that

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Speaker 1: in it. I wish you want I'm sending it in personally.

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Speaker 1: In the late nineteen seventies, Sydney Pottier decided to step

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Speaker 1: back from acting and try his hand to directing instead.

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Speaker 1: His efforts didn't win over many critics, but he did

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Speaker 1: land a few box off his successes, including the eight

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Speaker 1: comedy Stir Crazy, which featured Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor

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Speaker 1: as a bumbling pair who were sent to prison by mistake.

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Speaker 1: In Poitier returned to acting after a decade's absence and

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Speaker 1: appeared in a series of action thrillers, the best of

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Speaker 1: which was probably Sneakers. Still his greatest late career work

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Speaker 1: was actually for two made for TV movies. He played

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Speaker 1: the lead role in Separate but Equal in ABC drama

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Speaker 1: about the life of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshal. Six

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Speaker 1: years later, he gave an acclaim performance as Nelson Mandela

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Speaker 1: in the TV movie Mandela and the Clerk, which followed

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Speaker 1: the final years of Mr Mandela's imprisonment in South Africa.

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Speaker 1: Poitier's final role was in The Last Brickmaker in America,

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Speaker 1: a two thousand one TV movie about a widower whose

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Speaker 1: job is becoming obsolete. A year later, on the same night,

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Speaker 1: Denzel Washington won the Award for Best Actor, Sydney Poitier

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Speaker 1: was presented with an honorary Oscar for quote his remarkable

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Speaker 1: accomplishments as an artist and as a human being. Eight

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Speaker 1: years later, in two thousand nine, the actor received an

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Speaker 1: even higher award, the us P Residential Medal of Freedom.

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Speaker 1: During the ceremony, President Obama remarked that, quote, Sydney Poitier

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Speaker 1: does not make movies. He makes milestones, milestones of artistic excellence,

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Speaker 1: milestones of America's progress. He not only entertained but enlightened,

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Speaker 1: shifting attitudes, broadening hearts, and revealing the power of the

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Speaker 1: silver screen to bring us closer together. The trailblazing actor,

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Speaker 1: America's first black movie star, passed away on January six

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Speaker 1: two at the age of ninety four. It's hard to

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Speaker 1: overstate the importance of Sydney Poitier's life and career. His

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Speaker 1: commanding presence, simmering rage and quiet humility brought a new,

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Speaker 1: much needed perspective to the American film industry and to

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Speaker 1: society as a whole. We've talked a lot today in

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Speaker 1: terms of racial progress and historic first, and that's appropriate

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Speaker 1: given the many breakthroughs that Poitier achieved in his lifetime,

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Speaker 1: but it's worth noting that he was a great enough

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Speaker 1: actor for his films to stand on their own apart

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Speaker 1: from historical context. The depth of emotion he poured into

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Speaker 1: his performances is truly stunning. He delivered a complex depiction

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Speaker 1: of playfulness, sarcasm, outrage, melancholy, and pure joy, often layered

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Speaker 1: one on top of the other. The work of Sydney

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Speaker 1: Poitier is a reminder that no one is just one thing,

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Speaker 1: no matter what the expectations of society and our harshest

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Speaker 1: critics may tell us. I'm Gabe Lousier and hopefully you

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Speaker 1: now know a little more about history today than you

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Speaker 1: did yesterday. If you'd like to keep up with the show,

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Speaker 1: you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at

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Speaker 1: t D i HC Show Special. Thanks to listener Brian

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Speaker 1: Denny for suggesting the topic of today's show. He actually

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Speaker 1: shares a birthday with Mr Poitier, so happy birthday, Brian.

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Speaker 1: And if anyone else has a historical topic they'd like

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Speaker 1: to hear on the show, you can send your suggestions

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Speaker 1: to This Day at I heart media dot com. Thanks

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Speaker 1: to Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thank you

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Speaker 1: for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow for

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Speaker 1: another Day in History Class. For more podcasts from my

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or

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Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows. This Day in

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Speaker 1: History Class is a production of I Heart Radio. Hi,

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Speaker 1: I'm Eves and you're listening to This Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show that makes time travel a little bit easier.

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Speaker 1: The day was February eighteen o five American abolitionist Angelina

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Speaker 1: grim Key was born. She's not to be confused with

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Speaker 1: her great niece, Angelina Wild grim Key, who was born

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Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty and was a writer who gained popularity

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Speaker 1: during the Harlem Renaissance. The Angelina grim Key were talking

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Speaker 1: about today was a white Southern woman who was an

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Speaker 1: activist and women's rights advocate. Grim Key was born in Charleston,

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Speaker 1: South Carolina, to a slave owning family. She was the

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Speaker 1: fourteenth and last child born to John foch Hoole grim

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Speaker 1: Key and Mary Smith grim Key. Her father was a

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Speaker 1: revolutionary war veteran and a prominent politician and judge in

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Speaker 1: South Carolina. Her mother came from a wealthy family that

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Speaker 1: included Governor. Grim Key's family had a home in Charleston

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Speaker 1: and a plantation in the country. Enslaved people worked the land,

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Speaker 1: producing rice and cotton. They also worked as household servants.

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Speaker 1: Grim Key's parents were fully invested in following the dictates

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Speaker 1: of white, upper class society in the South. Her father

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Speaker 1: prohibited Angelina and her sisters from getting an education. Angelina

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Speaker 1: was very close to her older sister, Sarah, as they

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Speaker 1: witnessed the atrocities of slavery that their parents were complicit in.

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Speaker 1: Their opposition to the institution grew. In eighteen nineteen, Sarah

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Speaker 1: went to Philadelphia and New Jersey with their father, who

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Speaker 1: was sick and seeking medical assistance. Their father died in

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Speaker 1: New Jersey, but Sarah stayed in Philadelphia for a while

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Speaker 1: and was introduced to Quakerism. Quakers are members of a

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Speaker 1: religious group with Christian roots. In mid seventeenth century England,

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Speaker 1: they were largely concerned with human rights and often held

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Speaker 1: anti slavery views. Sarah soon joined the Quakers, returning to

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Speaker 1: South Carolina briefly before she moved to Philadelphia. Following Sarah's lead,

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Speaker 1: Angelina also became a Quaker in eighteen twenty nine. After

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Speaker 1: having difficulty advocating for the anti slavery cause in the South,

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Speaker 1: she also moved to Philadelphia. There, she joined the Philadelphia

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Speaker 1: Female Anti Slavery Society. In eighteen thirty five, grim Key

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Speaker 1: wrote a letter to William Lloyd Garrison, a founder of

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Speaker 1: the American Anti Slavery Society and publisher of the abolitionist

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Speaker 1: newspaper The Liberator. In the letter, she praised Garrison and

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Speaker 1: wrote about slavery and abolitionism. Garrison published it without her consent,

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Speaker 1: and it got a lot of pushback from the Quaker community,

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Speaker 1: who did not approve of her radical support of abolitionism.

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Speaker 1: Despite this disapproval and the fact that she had not

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Speaker 1: asked for her letter to be printed, the letter gained

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Speaker 1: national attention, and Angelina became more involved with the abolitionist movement.

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Speaker 1: She read more anti slavery texts and went to lectures.

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Speaker 1: In eighteen thirty six, she published the pamphlet and a

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Speaker 1: Heel to Christian Women of the South, condemning slavery and

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Speaker 1: urging Southern women to free enslave people and pay them wages.

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Speaker 1: She continued to write abolitionist pamphlets and speak out against slavery.

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Speaker 1: Angelina and Sarah began giving anti slavery lectures and organizing

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Speaker 1: women's anti slavery groups around the Northeast. They toured in

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Speaker 1: New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. Though many of their

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Speaker 1: lectures were attended by women only, some of their lectures

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Speaker 1: were attended by men and women. Their lectures were already

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Speaker 1: controversial since they said slavery was anti Christian, exposed the

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Speaker 1: horrors of slavery and criticized slaveholding Southerners and Northerners who

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Speaker 1: were complicit in a system. But their lectures in front

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Speaker 1: of so called mixed audiences also fueled accusations of unwomanly behavior.

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Speaker 1: The sisters began to link the anti slavery cause to

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Speaker 1: the issue of women's rights. They continued writing and spoke

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Speaker 1: at the slavery Convention of American Women, even as their

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Speaker 1: role as outspoken women in the movement was heavily criticized.

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Speaker 1: Angelina married Thomas Weld, another abolitionist, in eighteen thirty eight,

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Speaker 1: and the next year the sisters published the book American

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Speaker 1: Slavery As It Is Testimony from a Thousand Witnesses. They

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Speaker 1: also continued circulating anti slavery petitions and attending meetings, but

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Speaker 1: they stopped giving public lectures on the cause and retreated

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Speaker 1: from the forefront of abolitionist activism. Angelina supported Abraham Lincoln

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Speaker 1: during the Civil War and advocated for women's rights in

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Speaker 1: suffrage after the war. She also helped run a couple

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Speaker 1: of schools with Sarah. She died in Boston in eighteen

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Speaker 1: seventy nine. I'm Eve Jeffcote, and hopefully you know a

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Speaker 1: little more about history today than you did yesterday. Have

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Speaker 1: a hard time staying present as you mindlessly scrolled through

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Speaker 1: social media. Lucky for you were stuck in the past.

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Speaker 1: At t D I h C Podcast on Facebook, Instagram,

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Speaker 1: and Twitter. Our email address is this day at I

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Speaker 1: heart media dot com. Thanks for tuning in and we'll

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Speaker 1: catch you tomorrow same place. H