From Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis
Author: Dee, Ruby; Davis, Ossie
Date: May 25, 1961
Location: Mt. Vernon, N.Y.
Genre: Letter
Topic: Freedom Rides
Details
Black entertainers Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis send a message of encouragement to the freedom riders via King.1 They express support for the decision to continue the protests despite violent resistance from segregationists.
the freedom riders, care the rev martin luther king
407 auburn ave northeast atla
our humble thanks for decision to continue this truly noble struggle for the dignity of the black man and for the dignity and salvation of our country
ruby dee and ossie davis
1. Ruby Dee (1924–2014), born Ruby Ann Wallace in Cleveland, Ohio, joined the American Negro Theater in Harlem while earning a B.A. (1945) from Hunter College. She made her Broadway debut in the play Jeb in 1946, where she met her future husband, Ossie Davis. Ossie Davis (1917–2005), born Raiford Chatman Davis in Cogdell, Georgia, attended Howard University before moving to Harlem to begin a career on the stage. Davis and Dee married in 1948, and they wrote and appeared in many successful stage, film, and television projects. Alongside their acting careers, Davis and Dee maintained relationships with many civil rights activists, including Malcolm X and King. In 1998 the pair published an autobiography titled With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together.
Source: MLKP-MBU, Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers, 1954–1968, Boston University, Boston, Mass.