Sidney Poitier was an iconic figure of blackness | Sidney Poitiers

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Upon announcing the death of Hollywood legend Sidney Poitier, I sent out a tweet containing my favorite picture of him. The photo in question shows Poitier shirtless, in dark sunglasses as Miles Davis on the cover of ‘Round About Midnight’, playing the saxophone alongside jazzman Sonny Stitt, while standing in the street, surrounded by a community of appreciative spectators, also known as “the people.” The reason this photo is digging so much is that it presents a more complex portrait of Poitier than the one that knew him at the height of his Hollywood fame. I’ve never been able to confirm the context of this photo, but I always assumed it was taken while he was preparing for his role as an expatriate trumpet player in the movie Paris Blues. Whatever the circumstances, the image itself suggests authenticity, and the authenticity of a particular street is far more complex than the appropriate integrative symbolism to which his character has often been reduced.

By the late 1960s, Sidney Poitier was the biggest draw at the box office in America. With films like In the Heat of the Night, To Sir With Love, and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, his films have become a genre of their own. Accomplishing this was no small feat. When Poitier began his career, most of his mostly black films were musicals. The black men who appeared in all-white films tended to be represented as unflattering, child-like clowns; Ethnic clowns who scratched when they didn’t laugh and laughed when there was nothing funny. This changed Poitiers’ ascent to the top of Mount Hollywood. He was often the only black person moving through hostile white spaces. His polished, cultured and dignified image contrasted with the boldness and calm previously represented by such characters as Stepin’ Fetchit, Mantan Moreland, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson and Willie Best. Like many mid-century jazz musicians, Poitier wanted people to see him as an artist, not a stereotypical artist. And he succeeded in this.

When perhaps his most famous character, Virgil Tepes from In the Heat of the Night, the racist Southern cops demanded some respect for his name, “They call me Mr. Tepes!” Poitiers, like Muhammad Ali, demanded something similar in the ring and in real life. In the film, Endicott’s character resented the fact that the “arrogant” Tebes actually spoke to him as his equal, rather than as the annoying asshole he was expecting. So, Endicott slapped Tibes in the face to get out of what he thought was his spot. But faster than the blink of an eye, Tebes responded in kind, slapping the bait out of Endicott’s mouth, as it were. “The Slap Heard Around the World”—this legendary cinematic moment when stardom afforded Poitier to his character the opportunity to exact revenge on a white man without fear of reprisal—proved that just because he was best known for playing these gentlemen on screen, he handled his business, if necessary.

The image of Poitier in the film has often been associated with that of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. Poitier won the Academy Award for Best Actor in the same year that King won the Nobel Prize. But in this case, when Tebbs slapped Endicott on the comeback, the character he’d relate to most going forward showed that there are multiple layers to his complex personality. It may have reminded some of the MLK, but in the late 1960s when the civil rights movement was being challenged by assertions of black power, Virgil Tipsy didn’t turn the other cheek. Here he had more in common with Malcolm X than he did with Dr. King, despite what his calculated personality may have led some people to believe.

A vision in the heat of the night as a child left an indelible mark on my adult mind. Being a gentleman does not mean accepting humiliation literally or figuratively. Demanding them respect these celluloid racists and demonstrate their maneuverability in many ways, I am told that being well-rounded and multidimensional, defying classification, mixing supreme thought with authenticity is indeed the way to go. This is what Tibes, Poitier’s greatest cinematic figure, represents, and especially that image in which he is shown playing the sax in shadows, shrouded in black.

Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger in In The Heat of The Night photo: United Artists / Allstar

After many years of seeing Poitier in this groundbreaking film, I had the pleasure of meeting him. In the late 1990s, Poitier was the inaugural speaker at the USC School of Cinematic Arts where I spent the last 30 years of my career. Watching as a child, he was the only black man navigating the white spaces of a labyrinth, comparable to a career in which I found myself living in rare places in academia. Showing a noble style has lived hand in hand with the understanding that not everyone would agree that I really belong in such a distinct space. Like Virgil Tibbs, I can be diplomatic, but as this hilarious liquor advert from the ’80s said, “Don’t let the smooth taste fool you.”

I stand at graduation in full academic emblems, as I put my doctoral cap on a newly graduated PhD candidate, I think of how the people who created all this pomp and circumstance never imagined that a cat like me would represent and that way I turned to see Poitier approaching me with his hand outstretched and smiling at wide range. His words echoed, “Nice to meet you, Doctor,” as I shook his hand. When we stood there, I absorbed the enormity of the moment. He gave multiple compliments and compliments, was as generous in life as his character. Share the laughter with the knowledge. But this was Sidney Poitier, not Virgil Tepes. He understood what all this meant, and so did I. Things that are often understood do not need to be elaborated.

Sidney Poitier was a giant of American culture. He stands as one of the most important figures in the history of Hollywood without a doubt. The huge legacy of Poitier’s style is evident in those who have been influenced by it. Be it Denzel Washington’s career, contemporary Hollywood royalty, or the career of the nation’s first black president, Barack Obama. Sidney Poitier, the distinguished man of cinema, was pioneering, inspiring, brilliant, complex and also original. The era that represented it is long gone, but the foundation it laid is one we are still building upon. Rest in power!

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