Scope and arrangement
The Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee papers date from 1932 to 2015 and trace the couple's professional lives as writers, directors, actors, and activists. Portions of the couple's papers were progressively selected and arranged into numbered binders beginning in 1997, to assist in the creation of their joint memoir. These binders have their own internal organization and have been maintained in this collection as a series. The remaining files have been grouped into the following series: Writings and Projects; Materials by Others; Administrative Files; Activism and Politics; Playbills and Programs; and Audio and Moving Image. The collection details Davis and Dee's collaborative and solo artistic processes and decades long creative output in the mediums of theatre, film, television, radio, and publishing, while tracing their life-long work for civil rights and social justice.
The Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee papers are arranged in seven series:
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1932-201419.04 linear feet (47 boxes)
The Binders are organized into eight subseries: Chronological; Correspondence; Local 1199; Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz; Productions; Publications, Speeches, and Other Writings; and Source Notebooks. A detailed list of the contents of the binders is available as an additional resource to this finding aid. The original titles of the binders, when present, and their categories, have been maintained.
The Chronological binders date from 1932 to 2014, and chronicle the creative, activist, and professional activities of Davis and Dee through clippings, articles, programs, meeting minutes, flyers, letters, and telegrams. These materials, some of which were annotated by Davis and Dee, document the couple's many public appearances throughout the United States at universities, public schools, theaters, community centers, museums, and concert halls. Included are texts from dramatic readings and spoken word events; files of commencement speeches and graduation addresses; materials from memorials and tributes at which they spoke; and posthumous tributes to the couple. Davis and Dee's performances were often given for organizations and on behalf of causes geared towards social justice, civil rights, education, and community building. Some of the organizations and causes represented in the Chronological files include the National Organization for an American Revolution (City College), the NAACP, Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial Day concerts, and their fundraising efforts for Sickle Cell Disease awareness.
There is a small amount of correspondence interspersed throughout the Chronological binders. This includes a 1960 letter Dee penned to Columbia Pictures in which she outlined her political activities, and provided a statement on her position regarding Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. There is also a handwritten draft letter from Dee to Lena Horne, material documenting Davis and Dee's organization of the 1963 Christmas boycott, papers from a town hall forum on the subject of "The Black Revolution and White Backlash" from 1964, and some internal meeting minutes and statements from the Association of Artists for Freedom, of which Davis and Dee were founding members.
The Correspondence binders contain letters, notes, postcards, and telegrams. These files include both personal letters between Davis and Dee, and letters from family and friends. The personal letters span from the early years of the couple's relationship in the late 1940s, to a poem written by Dee to her husband on her life without him in 2005. Their correspondence addresses plans for marriage, arrangements of family life, writing and acting work, and their thoughts and impressions on various topics both personal and political. Letters from family members date from 1942 to 1970, and are from Dee's immediate relatives, including her mother, Gladys Hightower. The Friends section dates from 1938 to 1970, and contains letters from a range of notable artists and activists in Davis and Dee's milieu including Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Paul Robeson, and Gwendolyn Brooks.
The Local 1199 Union binder is comprised of correspondence, programs, flyers, clippings, scripts, and photographs dating from 1954 to 2001. This material includes letters to Moe Foner, "Bread and Roses" programs, union newsletters, and a script from one of Davis and Dee's performances. There are also photographs present which depict the couple at various Local 1199 events, as well as with such notable figures as Moe Foner, Martin Luther King, Jr., A. Philip Randolph, and Joan Mondale.
The Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz binder includes postcards, letters, articles, clippings, programs, and some written works. There is a cache of letters and postcards from Malcolm X which he sent to Davis and Dee during his travels to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and a number of African cities. Many of the letters are long, and include an elucidation of his position concerning the struggle for black freedom and equal rights in the international context. There is also a draft of Malcolm X's funeral program procedure; an Islamic funeral program; and numerous clippings regarding Davis' eulogy, including the transcription which was published in the New York Amsterdam News. There are also notes from sixth grade students written to Davis regarding his eulogy, and a request from Grump publisher, Roger Price, for Davis to write a piece on the subject. Dee's participation in fundraising for Malcolm X's widow, Betty Shabazz and their children, is detailed in letters and meeting minutes.
The Productions subseries trace Davis and Dee's output from their fledgling careers in their very first theater companies to Dee's stage, film, and television work in the 2000s. The files consist of material grouped into the categories of Stage; Film and Television; and Joint Productions, followed by material from Anna Lucasta, A Raisin in the Sun, Purlie Victorious, and Dee's one-woman show My One Good Nerve. There are also programs present for the 1946 production of Jeb, where Davis and Dee first met and collaborated. Clippings of reviews are also present and accompanied by programs, a small amount of correspondence, cast contact sheets, and some contracts. Of special interest is the program from Davis's first stage appearance with the Rose Mclendon Players in Joy Exceeding Glory (1939), and correspondence between Dee and Alice Childress detailing Dee's thoughts and concerns about her role in The Wedding Band (1966), both of which are found in binder 23. The Film and Television binders include material from Davis's films Kongi's Harvest and Cotton Comes to Harlem. This subseries also include a handwritten note from Spike Lee inviting the couple to appear in Do the Right Thing, along with some material from their appearance at the Cannes Film Festival to support the film's 1989 nomination. The files also contain a small amount of material from Lee's Jungle Fever.
Publications, Speeches, and Other Writings binders date from 1972 to 1992, and hold files regarding the couple's published books; speeches, tributes, and eulogies delivered by Ossie Davis; essays and interviews, including an essay style journal entry handwritten by Davis in Cairo on US Army Red Cross letterhead in 1944 (binder 46); Ruby Dee's column for the New York Amsterdam News; and obituaries and tributes for friends and colleagues. This includes clippings, dust jackets, correspondence, and notes. There are also some interview transcripts present.
Source Notebooks are a curated collection of copies, transcripts, and excerpts of works drawn from a variety of texts. The notebooks comprise some original prose and poetry by Davis and Dee, but mostly hold compositions by others, including excerpts from religious texts. Davis and Dee drew on these materials when creating presentations, dramatic readings, and recitals. Additionally, there are a number of programs, transcripts, and setlists present from these performances. There are several pieces in Notebook 8 by Langston Hughes which have been inscribed to Dee and Davis.
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1940-201233.38 linear feet (81 boxes)
This series is grouped into the subseries Ossie Davis Projects; Ruby Dee Projects; and Joint Projects. The files comprise papers related to Davis and Dee's creative and professional activities as actors, authors, narrators, and directors.
The Ossie Davis Projects subseries reflects Davis' prolific writing practice, which contains a prodigious amount of scripts, treatments, one-acts, partial scenes, short stories, plots, plans, outlines, and ideas. These files include a mixture of published, produced, unfinished, and unproduced works, and feature recurrent themes of civil rights figures and historical events. There are compositions for stage, television, and film, as well as a number of short stories. Davis' creative evolution and the progression of his projects are illustrated in some of his early notes and ideas, as well as the initial stages of works that later came to fruition. Among Davis' produced works, there is extensive documentation of scripts he penned for Local 1199, as well as legal files, financial documentation, correspondence, and production materials for Purlie Victorious, Countdown at Kusini, Sybil, and With Ossie and Ruby.
Ruby Dee Projects are arranged into sections titled Adaptations, Performances, and Workshops; Book Projects; and Various Writings. Her files hold administrative materials, proposals, meeting agendas, correspondence, scripts, financial documentation, notes, drafts, and original manuscripts. Dee's adaptation of The Disappearance is specifically well-documented, featuring scripts, correspondence, budgets, cast lists, and notes. There is also copious documentation for both the My One Good Nerve and Zora is My Name! book projects that include manuscripts, drafts, correspondence, and administrative materials. Of special interest is material tracing the development of the My One Good Nerve book into a performance piece, which includes documentation of a private performance for guests at her home in 1993.
Joint Projects hold material generated from the couple's many artistic collaborations. The most thoroughly documented projects are the Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee Story Hour radio show, With Ossie & Ruby television series, their production company Emmalyn Enterprises, and their joint memoir With Ossie & Ruby: In This Life Together.
The Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee Story Hour subseries hold scripts, notebooks, interview transcripts, a series breakdown, a book proposal, and the program airing list, while the With Ossie & Ruby files contains scripts, financial files, legal papers, promotional material, and photographs. The Emmalyn Enterprises materials largely address the creative and business project proposals that were planned and conceived of by Davis and Dee in association with their production company. These files hold detailed proposals, rights and agreements, meeting minutes, and other administrative documents. There are files present for a number of works that were not ultimately produced. Among the produced works are Pioneers in Black Business, A Walk Through the 20th Century With Bill Moyers: The Second American Revolution, and Two Hah Hahs and a Homeboy.
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1940-20129.79 linear feet (24 boxes)
This series consists of both scripts and writings that Davis and Dee used in conjunction with their work in theatre, film, television, radio, audio books, and video games. Many of the scripts are annotated, and include such details as scene breakdowns, schedules, and production information. The material is arranged into the subseries: Stage Scripts; Film, Television, and Radio Scripts; and Writings. The Scripts are arranged chronologically, and the Writings are arranged alphabetically by author. Of special interest is the script from the original Broadway production of A Raisin in the Sun, as well as scripts for Boesman and Lena, The Taming of the Shrew, Do the Right Thing, and Countdown at Kusini.
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1960-20159.67 linear feet (24 boxes)
The Administrative files hold professional Correspondence; documentation from Miscellaneous Jobs; Daily Planners and Itineraries; Personal Legal files; and Awards and Honorary Degrees. The Miscellaneous Jobs files are arranged alphabetically, and contain contracts, correspondence, and travel schedules. The daily planners date from 1978 to 2014, and record Davis and Dee's appointments, engagements and day-to-day professional and personal activities. These planners also contain a small amount of inserted ephemera.
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1948-20031.25 linear feet (3 boxes)
The Activism and Politics files are arranged alphabetically by subject matter, individual, or organization, and hold correspondence, handwritten notes, and transcripts related to Davis and Dee's lifetime of work with social justice causes. Of note are Ossie Davis' FBI files, which he obtained via a FOIA request. Also included are files related to Grace Lee Boggs, Gary Graham, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier, Eslanda Robeson, Paul Robeson, Harry Belafonte, and Nat Turner.
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1943-20133.42 linear feet (9 boxes)
Contains an assortment of theater programs dating from 1943 to 2013. Most of the programs have been arranged chronologically, while additional programs have been grouped into those associated with Davis and Dee, and programs related to African American and other minority theater. Many of the included programs contain handwritten impressions and commentary by Dee and Davis.
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1937-20140.67 linear feet (2 boxes)
The Audio and Moving Image material dates from 1946 to 2012, with the bulk of the recordings being from the 1980s and 1990s. These recordings embody the couple's professional careers in radio, television, film, and theatre. Davis and Dee's work is chronicled through stage performances that include dramatic roles, readings, and rehearsals; interviews on television and radio; television appearances, as both hosts and guests; voice-over and narration work; speeches; and event hosting. The couple's working and personal friendships are revealed through eulogies, tributes, and memorials, while their social justice work is chronicled through Public Service Announcements (PSAs) and television specials. Although the majority of the recordings are related to Davis and Dee in their professional capacities, there is a group of recordings of informal conversations; personal notes and musings; meetings; and line rehearsals for dramatic work.