Ossie Davis speaks at Statler Auditorium Nov. 1 as part of Cornell's Family Weekend activities. Michelle Icenogle
About 200 people in Statler Auditorium last Friday shared an evening with Ossie Davis, as he talked about his parents and childhood, his experiences at Howard University, his marriage of 48 years to actress Ruby Dee, his army service, his career, politics in America and much more.
"I heard the presentation was called 'An Evening With Ossie Davis," the director, producer, actor and writer said, with a smile, in his opening. "Since I had never seen such a thing, I decided to come and see it for myself. But seriously, tonight, I wish to talk with you about the life I have had the pleasure of living."
Davis was invited by the Cornell University Programming Board as part of Family Weekend. His audience reacted to his performance with laughter, at times with strong emotional silences and with ponderous sighs.
Biology major Jacques Laguerre '97 said the evening made him quite homesick. "Mr. Davis put me in my grandfather's living room," he said. "The warmth, the approachability, the smile, the voice. He took me back."
For alumna Denise C. Lee '73, the evening was fulfilling. "He is brilliant. He has fine oratory skills, a deep consciousness and immense black pride," she said. "As he took us through his life, you could imagine the strength of his family. His love of his culture oozed from his words. He is very honest and very forthright, and you can only respect a man like him and learn from him."
Davis' presentation closed with an extended question-and-answer session, and later Davis invited the entire audience to a reception that followed.
Here are some excerpts from Davis' talk:
On his parent's response to intimidation from the Ku Klux Klan: "Mama took the note up to daddy, and a gun. It was then I appreciated my father as a hero and my mother as a heroine."
On becoming a writer: "Daddy was in my life, a mythical hero. As was my mother. I decided to become a writer so that I could tell their stories. We didn't have the disadvantages of television in those days. My imagination caught fire and I have never been able to put the fires out. And that is essentially who I am: the dreamer who is still caught in the dream."
On influences in his life: "Dr. Alan Leroy Locke, the first black Rhodes Scholar, the man who discovered Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, was always on the lookout for talent. I was in his class. He encouraged me to go out to the theater. On April 16, 1939, I heard Marian Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial because she had been barred from singing at Constitutional Hall in Washington, D.C. I understood fully for the first time, the importance of black song, black music, black arts. I was handed my spiritual assignment that night."
On movie director Spike Lee: "Spike Lee's contributions are varied and diverse. His ideas do not always flow in the context of the black experience, but in addition to being a filmmaker, he is a master mass marketer. His business skills are truly important and revolutionary contributions. His most recent work, "Get On The Bus," proves what he can do with two-and-a-half million dollars. All the men and women who invested in that movie got back 100 percent of their investment before the film opened. That is economics, and the way he uses it illustrates for us blacks how to achieve the things we want to achieve. Spike is teaching us how to control our money. And in my opinion, that puts him up there with the pioneers of the Civil Rights Movement."
On the Civil Rights Movement: "We are in a different phase of the development and few of us understand this. The Civil Rights Movement made black people, women and minorities free. Now we need to move black people, women and minorities to be equal. The bird of democracy needs two wings to fly -- that of freedom and of equality."
On American history: "It seems to me that now more than ever, we need to look at America as a civilization. We need to go back to the beginning of the nation and include those who were excluded."
On Malcolm X: "Malcolm knew that for a black leader to be effective, you had to frighten the white man."
On the Million Man March: "I was flabbergasted. I did not expect it would happen and especially not that fast. It lifted my heart and my eyes. I did not go. I had ideological differences with Louis Farrakhan based on my relationship with Malcolm X, which was a deep and strong one. My memory is still fresh as I remember the things Farrakhan said back then. I also had differences with [Benjamin] Chavis. I could not, in all honesty, attend. But I could appreciate it."
On societal ills: "If I had to fear any of the 'isms' that plague us today, it would have to be classism. How much suffering will make it necessary to liberate us all?"