Remembering Ruby Dee

Last week, the world lost not just an actress, but an activist, pioneer and a woman who had left a legacy spanning 50+ years across the arts. Her name, was Ruby Dee.

Ruby Dee began her acting career not on the screen, but the stage. In 1959 she appeared in the play, "A Raisin In The Sun," opposite a young Sidney Poitier. She and Poitier would reprise their roles two years later for the film version of the play.

At the time of her death, Ruby Dee had more than 100 film credits to her name. It wasn't just her passion for acting that she was known for, but also speaking out for civil rights, especially as it related to people of color in America. This culminated in her reading a poem at the 1963 March On Washington.

Ruby Dee was also known for her marriage to fellow actor, Ossie Davis. The two appeared together in Spike Lee's 1989 film, "Do The Right Thing." R.I.P. Ruby Dee.

50 Years Later Following the March On Washington

This past week was a big anniversary when it came to the fight for justice here in the United States. For it was 50 years ago on August 28, 1963, that the Civil Rights March on Washington took place.

 Photo from Hulton Archive

The March on Washington represented a crescendo in the movement for racial equality in America. It wasn't just that people were marching either. They were voicing their opinions, participating in sit-ins and boycotts, being beaten and even killed for challenging the law of the land in which they were not merely seen as unequal, but forever subjugated to a second class existence.

Martin Luther King typically gets most of the credit and acclaim when we look back on the March on Washington, but there were a bevy of people who also made the moment so special. People such as: Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers, Bayard Rustin, Dorothy Height, Rosa Parks, and countless other young people as well who took part in the movement. Their sacrifices are ultimately what lead the groundwork for the U.S. finally beginning to live up to its creed nearly 200 years after the signing of the Constitution. As great and symbolic as the March on Washington was in 1963, we can't stop there. We must keep moving forward everyday.