Harlem Civil Rights Virtual Tour

29. Ossie Davis

New York, NY

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Raiford Chatman Davis was an African-American writer, actor, and civil rights activist, who was born on December 14, 1917, in Cogdell, Clinch County, Georgia and died on February 4, 2005, in Miami Beach, Florida. Throughout his life, he was a loud voice for artists’ rights, human dignity, social justice, and civil rights causes. Davis also took part in countless fundraisers and demonstrations for the Civil Rights Movement. His career spanned over 80 years, and he worked with the who’s who of people who allowed him to express himself openly and freely regardless of the repercussions. He was a close friend of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. He delivered a soul-searching eulogy at the funeral of Malcolm X and spoke these words: “And we will know him then for what he was and is—a prince—our own Black shining prince!—who didn't hesitate to die, because he loved us so.” Ossie met and married his lifelong partner and rock Ruby Dee in 1948. They had three children, Guy Davis, Nora Davis Day, and Hasna Muhammad.