It was called the long, hot summer; that combustible time in 1967 when race riots exploded across America as frustration and anger among African-Americans at racism, segregation and poverty boiled over. Eighty-three lives would be lost, thousands injured and entire neighbourhoods burned. So there was some irony in the fact that the biggest cinema star in the US that year was black. Sidney Poitier had starred in a trio of box-office hits: To Sir, with Love, In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. And in doing so, he played not only a pivotal role in changing the way black characters were portrayed on screen, but his searing performances would pave the way for generations of actors of colour to gain better footing in Hollywood.
“In front of black and white audiences struggling to right the nation’s moral compass, Sidney Poitier brought us the common tragedy of racism, the inspiring possibility of reconciliation, and the simple joys of everyday life,” then-US President Barack Obama said when giving Sidney the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest honour, in 2009. “Ultimately, the man would mirror the character, and both would advance the nation’s dialogue on race and respect.”
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