Sidney Poitier was born on February 27, 1920, to fairly unusual circumstances. His family lived in the central region of the Bahamas, named Cat Island, but made voyages to Florida to sell the produce they grew on their tomato farm back home. During one of his parents’ voyages, Poitier was born on the boat two months premature, and was not expected to make it off the boat alive. The boat still made its way to Florida, where Poitier would be nursed back to life and actually have his birth recorded, granting him American citizenship. After returning to The Bahamas, the Poitiers would stay there until Sidney was about ten years old. His father’s farm had failed due to a US Embargo put on tomatoes, so in search of new means of living they went to Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. Here, Sidney was introduced to a new, more modern lifestyle. He saw lots of Black men in positions of power in Nassau, which he says showed him the possibilities in life. Still, his father thought he was getting into too much ‘trouble’. When Sidney was just 15, his father sent him to live with his brother in Florida, where he could start anew.
Poitier left Florida within a year, due to the severity of southern segregation. He left for New York, where he held a series of low-grade jobs to sustain himself while sleeping in a bus terminal. He saved enough money to rent a room for himself, but after almost getting arrested for not being able to pay rent a few months in, Poitier had sought out the Army. He worked in a Veteran’s Hospital as a physiotherapist for less than two years during World War II.
After the army, Poitier came back to New York (either Harlem or Manhattan), where he saw an advertisement in the newspaper for American Negro Theatre auditions. He noted in a 2002 Spotlight Interview with CNN that he originally auditioned because he needed the money. Despite this, his first audition went terribly. He had a very thick Bahamian accent which turned the directors away, and his blatant lack of reading education caused the directors to send him home before he even finished his script. This struck a match inside Poitier; with the help of a coworker and local radio stations, he dedicated the next six months to learning how to read and speak Americanized English, practically erasing his Bahamian accent when he spoke.
His strategy of cultural assimilation, on top of developing his skills as an actor, still failed him the second time. But, Poitier noticed the Theatre needed a janitor after his audition. He offered to take the job in exchange for acting lessons at the ANT, and they accepted. This was just the beginning of Sidney Poitier’s career.
Poitier took the ANT stage numerous times throughout the 1940’s, but it was his first Broadway appearance that took his career to the next level. In 1949, Sidney Poitier played the role of Polydorus in the all African-American production Lysistrata. Producers within Hollywood were catching wind of Mr. Poitier’s skill, and within a year he would have the opportunity to star in a major film production instead of performing on a stage. Poitier saw the opportunity and ran with it, making his first major film appearance in the 1950 film ‘No Way Out.’ He had numerous side roles in the early 1950’s, and his skill shined through every role, but it was not common to give lead roles to African Americans. Typically, Black actors would only be cast in all African-American films, or mixed films with roles that portray the stereotypical Black man in the eyes of a racist White person, a media tactic used for decades to vilify the Black image. Nonetheless, Poitiers' ability was undeniable, and soon the lead roles came in.
One of his greatest lead roles was in Defiant Ones (1958), which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, making him the first African-American male to receive this nomination (Hattie May was the first African-American to win an Academy Award in 1939). Five years later, he would become the first African-American male to officially win the Oscar for Best Lead Actor in the 1963 film Lilies of the Field. A Black man would not accomplish this again until Denzel Washington in 2002.
It should be noted that Mr. Poitier proudly denied a handful of roles during this time as well. He refused to take any role that portrayed the African American in a negative or stereotypical light, setting the precedent for Black actors and actresses to come in Hollywood.
Poitier ended his career as a highly acclaimed actor, director, humanitarian, writer, and more, but his life represents more than his accomplishments. Pay less attention to the success and more to the journey. From being born two months premature and growing up in extreme poverty in the Bahamas, to being homeless in New York and becoming a janitor in exchange for acting lessons, to breaking a major color barrier in the world by becoming a world renowned actor in America. Poitier rose to fame without compromising his morals, putting his people before a dollar bill. We can all learn from his story, and for that, we should all be grateful. Thank you, Mr. Sidney Poitier!
Read my sources on Mr. Poitier here, here, here, and here.
