This hour-long, one-on-one interview provides a candid glimpse into the lives of actors and “National Treasures” Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. Taped on October 18, 2002 at The Art Institute of Chicago in front of a live audience, the couple was interviewed by activist and scholar Angela Davis.

Master of Ceremonies Micah Materre, WGN-TV morning news anchor, began the program speaking of the profound influence Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee had on her life. Mr. Davis and Ms. Dee begin the interview describing their involvement in political and social campaigns. They then lovingly describe when they met, during the American Negro Theater’s production of Jeb, and getting married in New Jersey in 1948.
 

Mr. Davis and Ms. Dee then tell stories of their relationship with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X as well as how they included their children in their political activism and they reflect on the connection between art and politics and offer ideas on how to encourage younger generations to work for positive change in the world. At the time of the taping, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee had been married for more than fifty years. Not long after the taping, Ossie Davis passed away on February 4, 2005.  

Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee 

Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee have been together for 56 years. Renown for their stage, film and television roles they made their film debut in 1950’s No Way Out. Amassing an impressive body of work together, including the film, Do The Right Thing and the PBS series, With Ossie and Ruby, they have modeled a positive creative relationship. Their activism, at the height of the civil rights movement and their dedication to teaching the lessons of black history and culture through their art, have earned our trust and respect. In 1995 they received the National Medal for the Arts from the White House. In 2000, they were presented the Screen Actors Guild’s Life Achievement Award. They are inductees in the Theater Hall of Fame as well as the NAACP Hall of Fame.