Sidney Poitier Black and White: Sidney Poitier's Emergence in the 1960s as a Black Icon

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Sidney Poitier Black and White: Sidney Poitier's Emergence in the 1960s as a Black Icon is a 2020 biography of Sidney Poitier written by Philip Powers.

Summary[]

In this biography, Powers explores Sidney Poitier’s rise to Hollywood success against the backdrop of racial adversity faced by people of colour within the United States. The book incorporates numerous sources, including newspaper articles from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, to provide context and insight into attitudes at the time. It also draws parallels to the racial challenges experienced and spotlighted in the 21st century to emphasise the importance of Poitier’s journey in inspiring black Americans to stand up for their rights.

The book commences by outlining Poitier’s early life and his beginnings in the film industry, linking the roles he portrayed to his childhood and the lessons instilled in him by his father. Following Poitier’s “progress as an actor [which] was painfully slow for many years”,^[1] a picture emerges of a hard-working Poitier who joined the army, opened a restaurant, worked long hours in the kitchen and considered brick laying and cab driving to make ends meet and later, support his family. Despite the struggle for roles, Poitier was, for the most part, selective in the characters he would portray as he tried to balance “making a living as an actor, becoming as popular as a white actor and staying true to a representation of people with dark skin who can do anything a white man can do”.^[2]

Powers discusses the barriers faced by Poitier including the lack of representation of black people within films and the subsequent lack of roles, the pressure to sign a loyalty oath in exchange for work, and the political climate in which Poitier’s films were released. The book goes on to explore Poitier’s associations with Stanley Kramer, Spencer Tracy, Martin Luther King and Harry Belafonte and the way in which each of these influenced and shaped his career. The details of these relationships describe the stepping-stones to Poitier’s directorial debut, Buck and the Preacher. Concluding with an analysis of Buck and the Preacher, Powers provides insight into the critical reception of the film and illustrates how the film, often perceived as a flop, marked the beginning of Poitier’s success as a director.

Quotes[]

"Guess Who is almost Poitier’s personal story from the moment he arrived in America, fighting to be accepted in Hollywood’s elite circles, earn his place in their award ceremonies, earn a place at their table, earn a position where powerful men believed he was worth the same money as a white actor."

"Few superstars were forced to take as many rejections as Poitier before they became successful. And the rejections weren’t about his acting. They were because there were so few parts available. He was rejected because he was black and blacks mostly played slaves and criminals."

"[Poitier] was looking at how The Defiant Ones would do more good than Porgy and Bess was damaging... his decisions were becoming political. When he would bend and when he couldn't were revealing the politics of the next stage of his development as an actor and a person. The Defiant Ones would give a black man equal screen time with a white man against a - as it happens - white oppressor. Poitier couldn't say no toPorgy and Bess because he knew he had to say yes to The Defiant Ones."

"Buck and the Preacher was where it all started. All over again. At the bottom. The former leading man realised his leading-man days were numbered. The former number-one-box-office star was no longer in a group of performers that America ranked and published. Better to move on. Or get a new job."

"With Buck and the Preacher Poitier found his second Everest. Directing a black film about black people rising above white people during a desperate period when white people were forced, by law, to release black people from slavery was a huge task."

References[]