[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 69 Engrossed in House (EH)]
In the House of Representatives, U.S.,
February 9, 2005.
Whereas the late Ossie Davis, actor and civil rights leader, was born Raiford
Chatman Davis, the oldest of five children born to Laura Cooper and
Kince Davis, on December 18, 1917, in Cogdell, Georgia;
Whereas Ossie Davis graduated in the top 5 percent of his high school class,
received a National Youth Administration scholarship, and walked from
Waycross, Georgia, to Washington, D.C., to attend Howard University,
where he studied with Alain Leroy Locke, the first black Rhodes Scholar;
Whereas Ossie Davis began his career as a writer and an actor with the Rose
McClendon Players in Harlem in 1939;
Whereas during World War II Ossie Davis served in the Army in an African-
American medical unit, including service as an Army surgical technician
in Libya, where he worked on stabilizing some of the 700,000 soldiers
wounded in that war for transport back to State-side hospitals;
Whereas Ossie Davis made his Broadway debut in 1946 in Jeb, where he met his
wife, actress Ruby Dee, who he married in 1948;
Whereas Ossie Davis went on to perform in many Broadway productions, including
Anna Lucasta, The Wisteria Trees, Green Pastures, Jamaica, Ballad for
Bimshire, A Raisin in the Sun, The Zulu and the Zayda, and I'm Not
Rappaport.
Whereas in 1961, he wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed Purlie
Victorious;
Whereas Ossie Davis' first movie role was in No Way Out in 1950, followed by
appearances in The Cardinal in 1963, The Hill in 1965, and The
Scalphunters in 1968;
Whereas Ossie Davis made his feature debut as a writer/director with Cotton
Comes to Harlem in 1970 and later directed Kongi's Harvest in 1971,
Black Girl in 1972, Gordon's War in 1973, and Countdown at Kusini in
1976;
Whereas Ossie Davis held numerous leading and supporting television and motion
picture roles throughout his distinguished career;
Whereas Ossie Davis was a leading activist in the civil rights era of the 1960s
when he joined Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the crusade for jobs and
freedom and to help raise money for the Freedom Riders;
Whereas Ossie and Ruby Dee Davis, having protested the injustices of the
McCarthy Era House Committee on Un-American Activities in the 1950s,
were blacklisted from Hollywood;
Whereas Ossie and Ruby Dee Davis raised their voices for numerous causes,
including support for the United Negro College Fund, vocal opposition to
the Vietnam War, and participation in the August 28, 1963, March on
Washington, D.C., at which the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered
his ``I Have a Dream'' speech.
Whereas Ossie Davis served for 12 years as master of ceremonies at the annual
National Memorial Day Concerts on the grounds of the United States
Capitol and was an advocate on behalf of the Nation's veterans;
Whereas Ossie Davis eulogized both Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X at
their funerals;
Whereas Ossie Davis was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 1994 and
received innumerable honors and citations throughout his life, including
the Hall of Fame Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement in 1989, the
United States National Medal for the Arts in 1995, the New York Urban
League Frederick Douglass Award, NAACP Image Award, and the Screen
Actor's Guild Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001;
Whereas Ossie Davis and his wife, Ruby Dee, are the parents of three children
and have recently published their joint autobiography, With Ossie and
Ruby: In This Life Together; and
Whereas Davis enjoyed a long and luminous career in entertainment along with his
wife before he died in Miami, Florida, at the age of 87 on Friday,
February 4, 2005, where he was making a movie called ``Retirement'':
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) recognizes the extraordinary contributions to the Nation of the
late Ossie Davis for his service to the Nation in the military, as a
civil rights leader, and as an actor;
(2) honors him as a great American and pioneer in the annals of
American history; and
(3) expresses its deepest condolences upon his death to his wife
Ruby Dee Davis, his other family members, and his friends.
Attest:
Clerk.