Ossie Davis
The acclaimed actor, playwright, and activist Ossie Davis (1917-2005) first met Malcolm X following a live performance of Purlie Victorious at the Congress of Racial Equality in 1961. There, Malcolm X visited Davis and his wife, the actress Ruby Dee, backstage; Davis remembers him saying that "Black folks laughing at White folks was revolutionary--the highest kind of struggle he could imagine." In addition to his acting career, Davis was a champion of the civil rights movement. In August 1964, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee organized a summit for prominent black leaders, including Malcolm X, which drafted a proposed "Declaration of Human Rights for Black Americans." Davis delivered Malcolm X's eulogy, in which he declared Malcolm X to be Harlem's "own black shining prince." Davis and his wife were deemed "national treasures" when they were awarded the National Medal of Arts, in 1995. They have also received the Life Achievement Award (2000) and the Silver Circle Award (1994).