Legendary actor Sidney Poitier died last week at age 94. Poitier was a groundbreaking star, giving peerless performances, including his 1963 starring role in Lilies of the Field , for which he became the first Black man to win an Academy Award for best actor. Poitier was also a civil rights icon, supporting Black rights and acting as a friend and fundraiser for many of the movement’s most important figures; Martin Luther King Jr . once lauded him as “a man of great depth, a man of great social concern, a man who is dedicated to human rights and freedom." As stories about Poitier proliferated on social media after his death, one particular anecdote stood out. Several people, including journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones , recounted a tale of Poitier and his best friend, Harry Belafonte, flying to Mississippi and escaping the Ku Klux Klan in order to deliver thousands of dollars to the organizers of the Freedom Summer to keep the campaign going. Many of you know Sidney Poitier as the...
