There Is Definitely A Need For A Black History Month

The African-American actor Morgan Freeman is quoted in The Guardian (April 18, 2023) as telling a British publication that he considers Black History Month to be an "insult."

"You're going to relegate my history to a month?" Then he goes on to say "Black history is American history; they're completely intertwined." Freeman should be reminded that Black History Month (originally created by the historian Carter G. Woodson as Black History Week to be celebrated every February) came about because black accomplishments were excluded from American history and thought not to be important enough to be studied. Plus, it should be noted, black history is not limited to the United States. There are black people all over the world.

If blacks had been included in the study of American and world history in the first place, there would be no need for a Black History Week or Month. And with efforts by Governor Ron DeSantis to whitewash American history and dictate how it should be taught in Florida institutions of learning, black history is needed now more than ever.

As far as Freeman's objection to the term "African-American" is concerned, my answer to that is, yes, we know Africa is a continent, not a country. But since few, if any, blacks in the United States can point to a specific area of Africa as an ancestral home, we can claim the entire continent because we know it is where our forebears originated.

Stepin Fetchit, In Real Life, Was Not Dimwitted

The following is an unpublished letter-to-the editor.

Voice of the People
New York Daily News
450 West 33rd Street
New York, NY 10001

October 20, 2005

To the Editor:

Re: Stepin Fetchit retrospective at MoMa [Museum of Modern Art] ("Now Entertainment," 10/18/05). As an African-American, I am not proud of the racist stereotypes he perpetuated on the screen. However, I don't think he should be singled out for special vilification. In the 1930s and '40s, black performers were extremely limited in the types of roles they were offered. Clearly Fetchit [1902-1985] was aware of this situation himself when he made the following statement: "A Negro couldn't do anything straight, only comedy." (The quote is from Donald Bogle's book on Black Hollywood, Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams.)

Plus, Fetchit went broke financing a production company in an unsuccessful attempt to make a movie about [boxer] Jack Johnson and [baseball player] Satchel Paige, two African-American sports heroes who were the antithesis of Fetchit's screen persona. That should be proof enough that Fetchit (born Lincoln Perry), a third-year college dropout, was not the dimwitted, shiftless character he portrayed on screen.

Sincerely yours,
Charles Michael Smith

The "Black Panther" Movie Is Awesome!

Last night, I saw the movie Black Panther--twice! I attended the 8 o'clock show and hung around to see the 11 o'clock show. (When I left the theatre, it was a quarter to two in the morning.) I wanted to see what all the adulation was about. It's an awesome movie! I hope to discuss it soon on the blog. It's worthy of a long, thoughtful essay.

Denzel Washington Should Portray The Black Shakespearean Actor Ira Aldridge

The one screen role I would like to see Denzel Washington tackle before he gets too old to do it is the portrayal of the 19th-century African-American Shakespearean actor Ira Aldridge (1807-1867), who performed on American and English stages.

After seeing Washington in the film version of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Kenneth Branagh (1993), I am convinced he is more than capable of bringing to life Aldridge and Aldridge's portrayal of Othello and other characters.

There is no doubt in my mind that Washington would deliver a tour de force performance worthy of an Oscar--an actor exploring the life and work of another actor.

This could be a film, like Hidden Figures, that would enlighten audiences about a historical figure they know little or nothing about.

Spike Lee's Film Debut Cast, Where Are They Now?

There's been a lot of hoopla in the press about Spike Lee turning his 1986 debut film, She's Gotta Have It, into an updated, half-hour, ten-episode television series. (The show premieres on Netflix on Thanksgiving Day.)

We all know what became of Spike Lee, who played Mars Blackmon, one of Nola Darling's three boyfriends. But what about Lee's three co-stars--Tracy Camilla Johns (Nola), Tommy Redmond Hicks (Jamie), and John Canada Terrell (Greer)? Where are they today and what are they doing?

Since they helped make She's Gotta Have It a cinema classic, they deserve some attention, too. Maybe not as much as the actors who have taken over their roles for the upcoming series, but at least tell us what's happened to them over the past three decades.

Sidney Poitier: Actor, Director, Novelist

While browsing the "New Fiction" shelves at the Morningside Heights branch of the New York Public Library, I came upon a novel by legendary actor Sidney Poitier called Montaro Caine (Spiegel & Grau, 2013). I immediately took it off the shelf and turned to the inside front flap to read its plot description.

According to the front flap copy, the novel tells the story of Montaro Caine, a corporate CEO, in whose office is brought "a coin of unknown provenance, composed of a metal unknown to Earth." The flap copy goes on to tell the prospective reader that "the value of the coin lies not in its monetary worth but in its hold on the people who come into contact with it."

I was disappointed after reading about the plot of the novel. I was hoping that Poitier, one of my favorite actors, had written a novel from the perspective of a young black male actor attempting to build a successful film career. If Poitier had done that, he would have given his readers-- and fans--another insider's unique look at Hollywood, warts and all.

An Interview With Cicely Tyson, Part 2

Charles Michael Smith: Do you feel you've grown intellectually or emotionally as a result of the roles you've played?
Cicely Tyson: There's the question in my mind that I have which is the result of all the research I do when I'm getting ready to do a role. That always results in what I call "fringe benefits." I was talking to someone earlier today and they mentioned Jane Pittman and Sounder and Coretta King and I spoke of incidents that occurred in the process of my research which I would normally not have had if I did not delve into the lives of the people that I'm getting ready to project. Working with "Jane" was being able to talk to women who range anywhere from the ages of 97 to 105. If you want to know what living in America as a woman who happens to be born black is like, believe me, you find somebody in that age range and talk to them and they'll tell you what it's all about. That's something you can't buy. Those are things that enlarge one spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, and every other way.

CMS: How have you been able to balance marriage and an acting career?
CT: In the course of one's life, you come to different levels and different stages. At [one] time I felt very strongly that I could not share myself or involve another person in my life at that time because I was quite saturated with my career. I think that anything that you want in this life you have to work on and work toward and marriage is no different. At the time I decided to get married, I felt that I had [reached] the point in my life and in my career where I could involve another person in my life. So I made the decision to get married based on that. [She is married to jazz trumpeter Miles Davis.]

CMS: Would you encourage anyone to go into show business?
CT: I wouldn't encourage anybody to go into show business but I wouldn't discourage them either. If one really wants to do something, no one can discourage you. I would not encourage anyone to go into the theatre because it's a very difficult profession, especially if your color is black.

CMS: Are you planning to start your own production company?
CT: That's a possibility. [However, funding for such a project] is very, very difficult. We, as a race of people, are highly successful in many other areas. But I don't think we're acclimated enough to having money to risk putting it in ventures such as producing our own plays. But we better start doing it because otherwise we don't have it. We can't wait for The Man to do it because he's doing exactly what he feels will be profitable to him. If he says blacks aren't selling except in musicals, well, that's what he'll do, he'll do musicals. Not straight plays. And why? We're a powerful race of people. We underestimate our power. We don't know our own strength. Why do we need to wait for somebody to hand us a crutch? We don't need that.

CMS: What is the responsibility of the audience to the artist?
CT: It's to support. Elizabeth Taylor, as bad as her reviews are, her theatre was always filled.

This is the continuation of an interview that was originally published on the Inquiry Page of USA Today in 1983. Part one was posted on October 7, 2013. The interview with Cicely Tyson was done via telephone. At the time of the interview, she was playing the role of Miss Moffat, a schoolteacher in 19th-century Wales, on Broadway, in the play The Corn is Green.

An Interview With Cicely Tyson

Charles Michael Smith: How did you come to get the role of Miss Moffat in The Corn Is Green?
Cicely Tyson: It was offered to me by Elizabeth Taylor. I assume it was done primarily because she had this company that they put together and they had three plays to do. They made three choices, one was for Miss Moffat. She called me. I don't know if she called me specifically with this play in mind or not. She did say to me that she wanted me to be a part of the company and that I could make any choice I wanted but that she felt that The Corn Is Green would be a good vehicle for me to do. It had been offered to me several years prior to Elizabeth's offer before Katharine Hepburn  did [it]. Another set of producers were going to do it for Broadway and I rejected it at the time. I rejected it primarily because they adapted it for a black cast. I felt they were doing it to accommodate my color. I did not like the final results of the script. So I just assumed that when it came around again for the second time that there had to be something there or otherwise it wouldn't keep coming my way.

CMS: How do you perceive the character you play?
CT: I perceive the character [Miss Moffat] first as a human being whose primary interest is in the salvation of the minds of those children who are buried in a [Welsh] coalmine by the power structure. I consider it as timely now as it was then. [Author's note: The play, originally done on Broadway in 1940, is set in late 19th-century Wales.] She [Miss Moffat] is really no different than Marva Collins [the black Chicago schoolteacher]. The only difference between these two women is the color of their skin. Marva went after the children in the ghettos that were considered incorrigibles, retards, delinquents, et cetera. Miss Moffat goes after the children in the mines who never even had a chance or an opportunity to realize that they can develop a talent if in fact they have one.

CMS: Then the race of this character is totally irrelevant to you?
CT: As far as I'm concerned, absolutely. Because I'm dealing with the humanity of the person which comes first regardless of race, creed, or color. That's what I went after. My parents are from the British West Indies and just like slaves were taken from Africa to America and other parts of the world, they were also taken to Britain. So it is not inconceivable to me that the woman could have been black.
My main objective actually, and I think I have achieved it, is to get people to come to the theatre and after the first few minutes having seen this black woman who is Cicely Tyson, who is an actress, they completely forget about color and they deal with the piece. That's what's important to me. In addition to doing that, if that is successful and that has been successful, it will open the door for other black actresses to get work in plays that are not specifically written [for a]black.

CMS: What criteria do you use to select a role?
CT: Either my skin tingles or my stomach churns.

CMS: Do you read critics's reviews?
CT: I do not read reviews. I [don't] do that because I think I'm a better judge of where I am in relation to where I want to go when I'm working on a role and I don't let anything, anyone upset that judgment. It's mine. I think I am my staunchest critic.

CMS: Do you see yourself as a role model in the black community?
CT: Judging from the pile of mail that I receive, it's a tremendous responsibility. It's a responsibility I really respect and cherish.

CMS: Do you prefer to work in film or on the stage?
CT: It's the role that determines where I work. I go after the role. I get tremendous gratification from creating a role that's challenging and that determines where I go. I would have done any character that I've played during my career anywhere. I'd [have] done it off off off Broadway just to have the experience. I would not have turned down a role like Jane Pittman if it were done in a basement. Of course, being in front of a live audience is very stimulating. A live audience let's you know immediately whether you're accomplishing your goal. The response or the gratification is immediate. When you do film or television or for feature film, you have to wait until it airs which is sometimes a whole year.


This is an excerpt from an interview that was originally published on the Inquiry Page of USA Today in 1983. The interview with Cicely Tyson was done via telephone.

Darnell Williams Gains Success On A Daytime Drama

For actor Darnell Williams of All My Children, the popular ABC-TV daytime soap, television stardom can be at times a heavy crown to wear. Especially when overzealous fans recognize him in public or go out of their way to seek him out.

While interviewing him in his dressing room at the ABC Television Center on West 67th Street [in Manhattan], I asked Darnell if he was by nature a private person. "More private now than I was before. I like to be outside now. I live in Brooklyn and it's a black neighborhood and black people are overenthusiastic. There was a time when they were at my door and knew where I lived and that kind of stuff. I can't deal with it. A couple of people got my phone number. My roommate was at the butt of all that attention  because I'm  hardly ever there. He works a different shift. One week he works a night shift, one week he works the day shift. He'd be sleeping. Ding dong. Twelve, fifteen girls."

"The visibility of an actor," explains Darnell, who plays Jesse Hubbard, the 17-year old black streetwise kid, "is just incredible. Even more so than movies because there are so many people that watch soaps and see it every day. [They] see me two or three times in a week. I'm on often enough to be recognized constantly. In the beginning, it's great. Me and my brother were trying  to go out and count how many people recognized me. But after awhile, after a year, it just gets to be a pain in the ass. A regular person can't deal with that stuff [excessive recognition] and they [the fans] don't understand. I wish there was a way that they could understand." But despite the agony of being "recognized constantly," whenever a fan approaches him for an autograph, "I usually smile, show my teeth, and sign," says the 5-foot, eleven-inch actor who was nominated for (but did not win) the Daytime Emmy for Best Supporting Actor.

Darnell, who describes  himself as a "nice, easy-going, soft-spoken" person, was born in London, England on March 3, 1954, the second of eight children. And because his father was a career Air Force officer, the family moved all over the globe which offered Darnell the chance to experience and appreciate other cultures. (This probably explains his liking for Japanese food.)

Darnell appeared in several school plays and in 1974 he began acting professionally, a decision he came to after watching the old TV series Lost in Space. (Although as a kid he dreamed of becoming a teacher.)

The year 1975 found him studying under the tutelage of veteran black actor Glynn Turman who "was my first acting teacher. He had a great impact on me. To me, he was great."

Darnell believes that acting study is a way of "sharpening your craft. It's like keeping your car tuned. Some people feel they don't need it. I felt that way for awhile, too."

The one thing Darnell had prior to acting study was confidence. "I just knew it was a matter of time, a matter of a vehicle, a national vehicle before everybody would say 'Hey, this guy is great.'"

During this early stage of his career, Darnell felt and was told by others that he "had the instinct for an actor."

This instinct and skill led him to play roles in such TV productions as The White Shadow and Rich Man, Poor Man. And eventually All My Children, which was conducting a routine audition. "Fred Hudson down at the Frederick Douglass [Creative Arts] Center produced a play I was doing, Maurice Hines's Reach for the Sky, and some months after the show had closed he called me and said 'Listen, they're looking for Jesse.'" And, as the saying goes, the rest is history.

"This soap opera," says Darnell, "has a tremendous black following. It's probably even doubled since I've been on the show. Jesse has caught on like wildfire. It's time for them [network brass] to sit up and check out the demographics."

The Jesse character and storyline has caused a lot of controversy in spite of Darnell's comment that all of his "feedback has been positive," which would include his fan mail. The controversy arose, writes Linda Yearwood in the Amsterdam News (August 8, 1982), "for reasons ranging from his [Jesse's] overt, anti-white militarism to his quelled love affair turned platonic, with a local white maiden (the rumor flying around the daytime circuit was the viewer response was so vehemently opposed to this romantic entanglement, that the writers were forced to find Jesse a soulmate." Says Darnell: "The more controversy the better. I'm here for awhile, it can't do me any harm." (Williams has a three-year contract with AMC.)

Has his popularity on the show resulted in any movie offers? "I haven't been offered a wet sock yet," he replies. "If someone offered me a movie and it was pretty much like Jesse, [but] there was no positive growth, then I wouldn't do that."

Williams has not yet reached the point in his career where he can pick the roles he wants to do--"It's about getting whatever is there"--but he hopes some day he'll be able to do so.

One goal he has in mind once he's finished with AMC is to "produce and direct eventually." If black actors and actresses want to bring about change in the entertainment industry, says Darnell, "they have to stop acting and start producing and directing." He does feel, however, that the image of blacks on TV is "changing a little bit but not as quickly as it needs to."

Money coming in is certainly not a worry for Darnell Williams anymore. Being on All My Children, says Darnell, has made him "a little sure, able to pay [my] bills on time and [able to] buy a few things for [myself]. It just makes [me] a little more positive, a little more secure."

This is an excerpt of an article that was originally published in the Harlem Weekly newspaper (February 16-22, 1983).

The Pigeon Sisters Are Flying High To Success

The young and extremely attractive actresses Ronalda Douglas and Sheila Anderson portray the Pigeon Sisters, the upstairs neighbors of Felix Unger and Oscar Madison in The New Odd Couple which premieres at 8:30 p.m. Friday, October 29 [1982] on ABC. (This time out the famous mismatched pair are two black men: Ron Glass as [neatnik] Felix and Demond Wilson as [slob] Oscar. The new version, said Sheila Anderson, contains "a lot of silliness but always with a degree of intelligence." For one thing, she explained further, Wilson and Glass would refuse to take part in the show if it followed an "Amos 'n Andy concept" (which is how she described TV's image of blacks). And for another, "We have very intelligent writers. We have several black writers on the show and they don't think very highly of that kind of method."

Both Sheila Anderson and Ronalda Douglas come to the series with a varied background in theatre, commercials, and modeling. "This [The New Odd Couple] is actually my biggest opportunity thus far aside from working with Mr. [Bob] Fosse," said Anderson. (She appeared in All That Jazz and was edited out but got the chance to work with Fosse again in the upcoming film Star 80, the story of the murdered Playboy centerfold Dorothy Stratton. Anderson plays a dancer named Shay.)

Anderson, a native of New York City, began her acting career in commercials while working as a model. And despite her newfound success as a television actress, she remains a "very basic" person. "I try to keep myself as close to the ground as possible. My friends tell me since I've been home that they didn't see any changes, thank God."

Anderson is one of three children born to Sheila Guyse, an actress who appeared in many black circuit films in the 1930s and '40s, and Kenneth Davis, a dancer. Her parents (now divorced) did not encourage her as a child to pursue a show business career. "It was rough, especially in those days and they didn't want to see me suffer and go through a lot of the changes that they went through. But it's a lot different now. Not too different but it's different. Now my mother's thrilled, she's ecstatic."

But Anderson's talent does not stop with acting. Her interest in metaphysics in which she meditates in order to seek answers to personal and career problems led her to write a metaphysical children's book, The Land of Happy.  She also has written a book of poetry called Walking Against the World. Both books are yet to be published.

One other passion of hers is music. "You can shut me up with a stereo," she said, "and I'll be fine."

The other Pigeon Sister, Ronalda Douglas was born in a small town in Louisiana to parents who were educators. Like Sheila Anderson, she was a good student--straight "A"s--because her parents, especially her father, who has degrees in math and philosophy, stressed academic excellence. She began singing at the age of three in a talent show and later in church choirs. And although they encouraged her and her siblings to do whatever they wanted in life, "there was a point though when my father got a little worried that I would tend to be one-sided. In other words, only have music, only have theatre and he, I don't think, really believed in that. He wanted me to take other things just in case I didn't make it." She laughed. Part of the regimen was athletics, i.e. basketball, volleyball, swimming, et cetera. She is still very athletically-inclined.

At one point in her life, Douglas studied opera but was afraid "it would take away my soul." At that time she was the lead singer with an integrated rock band which did only live performances. "I enjoy performing and I thought the opera would take that away from me. I was afraid to be trained. But someone gave me a scholarship and so I started training with great fear and then I started liking it." Six months after taking her first lesson she started giving recitals. Douglas later won a scholarship to study operatic singing in Verona, Italy.

On the subject of opportunities for black actresses in Hollywood, Douglas said, "The opportunities are kind of few and far between" but all in all, "I feel very fortunate, lucky I got this part because the competition is rough for black women." In spite of the poor opportunities and the constant competition, Douglas dreams of the day when she can switch from comedy, in which she has had a spate of roles (Good Times, The Jeffersons, What's Happening!, et cetera), to drama. And because she takes "everything as a lesson," there is no doubt that this healthy attitude will help her grow artistically and financially as her star and that of her colleague, Sheila Anderson, ascends and lights up the Hollywood sky.

This article was originally published in the New York Amsterdam News in 1982.

Note: The New Odd Couple only lasted one season (1982-1983). According to the IMDB website, the last episode aired on May 26, 1983.