By OSWALD T. BROWN
(EDITOR’S NOTE: As we celebrate Black History Month, this is an update of an article that previously ran in BAHAMAS CHRONICLE, which underscores the fact that although Black History Month is primarily a celebration by Blacks in the United States, it is likewise an important celebration for persons with a shared history of African ancestry in The Bahamas, the closest foreign neighbour of the United States. Indeed, Sir Sidney Poitier is a Bahamian-American.)
WASHINGTON, D.C., February 3, 2021 — As Jet Magazine reported in its May 14, 1964 edition: “The first Negro winner of the Academy Award Oscar for the Best Actor of the Year received a hero’s welcome in his home town of Nassau…” Sidney Poitier was taken in a motorcade from the International Airport into downtown Nassau, where thousands lined the streets.
In celebrating The Bahamas’ 47 years as a independent country on July 10, 2020, my Facebook friend Ta’Shar Cuccurullo, who lives in Freeport, Grand Bahama, posted a series of historic photos on her Facebook page, including the one above. It looks very much like one of the photos I took when I was a young reporter-photographer with The Tribune, but there is no way of knowing for sure if it is one of my photos. I vividly remember the celebration staged by the then United Bahamian Party (UBP) government that also included a lavish dinner held a British Colonial Hotel. One of the unforgettable highlights of that dinner was the powerful speech delivered by Mr. Poitier, who had not yet been Knight by the Queen, during which he subtly chastised the UBP about the racist policies under which they governed The Bahamas at the time.
Although I can’t quote verbatim any portion of the powerful speech Mr. Poitier delivered in thanking the UBP for honouring him so lavishly, it was an historic event I shall never forget. I do remember how proud I was listening to my “black brother” talk about the evils of racism and its undesirable existence in The Bahamas. Surely, this national recognition by the UBP of Sir Sidney’s accomplishment as an actor, just a year or so after the Savoy Theatre on Bay Street had been integrated, must have stoked the simmering embers of discontent among politically active young blacks involved in the struggle for majority rule and helped bring about the downfall of the UBP in the historic January 10, 1967, general election.
Sidney Poitier’s remarks would have been very much in keeping with the fact that at the time he was actively involved in the civil rights struggle in the United States, where racism was still enforced by law in the southern United States and openly practiced in supposedly law-abiding northern states.
So as The Bahamas celebrates 47 years as an independent nation, I decided to personally wish Sir Sidney Poitier — one of The Bahamas’ most famous sons — Happy Independence Day, and remind the many young Bahamians who never developed a love for reading of the significant role Sir Sidney played in The Bahamas’ struggle for majority rule in the 1960s and the immense contributions he made to this country.
What many Bahamians tend to forget is that the struggle by black Bahamians against racism and for equal rights in The Bahamas was waged simultaneously with the civil rights struggle in the United States. Sir Sidney was actually born in Miami, Florida, and as an American citizen by birth he was one of the celebrity activists who were very much involved in the American civil rights struggle, working alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders in the United States in the 1960s.
But he never forgot his Bahamian “roots.” How could he? He was just a few months old when his parents, Reginald and Evelyn Poitier, returned to Cat Island from Miami, and Sir Sidney spent his boyhood years in The Bahamas. The remarkable story of how he became one of the world’s greatest actors has been well documented. As noted in Wikipedia, the Internet online encyclopaedia, at the age of 10 his family moved to New Providence from Cat Island and at the age of 15 he was sent back to Miami to live with his brother. Subsequently, he moved to New York at the age of 17 and held “a string of jobs as a dishwasher.” The rest of the life story of this remarkable Bahamian-American is a template for achieving success through sheer grit and determination to succeed in his chosen profession.
During his involvement with civil rights movement in the United States in the 1960s, Sir Sidney used his celebrity status to focus attention on the concomitant struggle for equal rights in The Bahamas and to stamp out racism in the country. This was around the time when his acting career was in high gear.
Obviously, Sir Sidney was very pleased with the outcome of January 10, 1967 election because he was present at the opening of the House of Assembly following the election along with several of his celebrity friends, including Bill Cosby, Sammy Davis Jr., and Clarence Williams III, one of the stars of The Mod Squad, one of the top-rated television shows in 1967.
This was also the year when Sir Sidney became the movie industry’s Top Box Office star of the Year with three successful films: To Sir, with Love; In the Heat of the Night; and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.
Of course, Sir Sidney was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1974 and was Appointed ambassador of The Bahamas to Japan in April of 1997, a position he held until 2007. From 2002 to 2007, he was concurrently the Ambassador of The Bahamas to UNESCO.
