Black man's burden: Sidney Poitier and the politics of image
Abstract
From the late 1950s to the late 1960s—the span of the modern civil rights era—Sidney Poitier was the only black leading man working consistently in Hollywood feature films. His mannered, middle-class, virtuous, nonviolent screen persona contradicted historic black stereotypes of sexual beasts, comic servants, and natural entertainers. At the beginning of his career in the early 1950s, in the midst of the Red Scare, he faced the barriers of an industry hesitant to showcase black actors. By the late 1950s he was an icon of racial enlightenment, and he became an important spokesman for black equality. His career came to follow the arc of the civil rights movement; at the height of the liberal racial consensus in 1964, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Poitier had few acting opportunities to pursue romance or show emotional complexity, since he represented a political movement. Surprisingly, in 1967 and 1968, as black radicals and urban riots gained national attention, Poitier achieved his greatest popularity, because his image assuaged a broad political center that racial peace could still occur. The cultural drift away from his icon temporarily drove him from prominence, though he rebounded by directing and producing a number of successful pictures in the 1970s. He also lived a remarkable life. A child of the Bahamas from isolated Cat Island, a teenage delinquent in Nassau, a young immigrant to Miami, and a lonely young man who worked in Harlem and briefly joined the Army, Poitier stumbled into his profession after attending an audition at the American Negro Theatre. His responsibilities, celebrity, and wealth created a series of personal conflicts, through which he negotiated with varying success. His career and his personal journey offer a valuable lens into American racial culture from the 1940s to the present.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Roberts, Purdue University.
Subject Area
American history|American studies|Motion Pictures|Biographies|Black history
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