Sidney Poitier died recently in Los Angeles on Jan. 6 at the age of ninety-four. In 1963, the trailblazing actor became the first Black person to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. He was a civil rights advocate, director, novelist, diplomat, and ambassador from the Bahamas to Japan and the United Nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His humble beginnings began in the Bahamas as a poorly-educated youngster who was often getting into trouble. He attended school for only 2 years and left at the age of twelve. By the age of fourteen, he was spending his time with delinquents. His parents sent him to live with his brother in Miami, Florida, and soon he moved to New York. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1962, Poitier received the Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. With his wife Joanne Shimkus in attendance, he finally explained how he overcame his lack of education and learned to read. Coincidentally his father-in-law was Jewish and Sidney credited an unknown Jewish waiter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Poitier told the audience. \u201cI cannot tell you his name, I never knew it. But I read fairly good now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a 2013 interview with Lesley Stahl, broadcasted on \u201cCBS Sunday Morning,” available on YouTube, Poitier elaborated about his journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After arriving in New York at the age of 16 in 1943, Poitier followed his dream to become an actor. Despite his thick Bahamian accent and his inability to read, he auditioned with the American Negro Theater in Harlem. The audition was a disaster, and he quickly got a job washing dishes at a restaurant. He emotionally tells the story of the co-worker who saved his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI sit there and I\u2019m reading one of the newspapers. And there was a Jewish waiter sitting at the table and an elderly man, and he saw me there.\u201d \u201cHe got up, and he walked over, and he stood by the table that\u2019s next to the kitchen, and he said, ‘Hi. What\u2019s in the papers?\u2019 And I said to him, ‘I can\u2019t tell you what\u2019s new in the papers because I don\u2019t read very well. I didn\u2019t have very much of an education.'”<\/p>\n\n\n\n