[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 69 Engrossed in House (EH)]


                 In the House of Representatives, U.S.,

                                                      February 9, 2005.
Whereas the late Ossie Davis, actor and civil rights leader, was born Raiford 
        Chatman Davis, the oldest of five children born to Laura Cooper and 
        Kince Davis, on December 18, 1917, in Cogdell, Georgia;
Whereas Ossie Davis graduated in the top 5 percent of his high school class, 
        received a National Youth Administration scholarship, and walked from 
        Waycross, Georgia, to Washington, D.C., to attend Howard University, 
        where he studied with Alain Leroy Locke, the first black Rhodes Scholar;
Whereas Ossie Davis began his career as a writer and an actor with the Rose 
        McClendon Players in Harlem in 1939;
Whereas during World War II Ossie Davis served in the Army in an African-
        American medical unit, including service as an Army surgical technician 
        in Libya, where he worked on stabilizing some of the 700,000 soldiers 
        wounded in that war for transport back to State-side hospitals;
Whereas Ossie Davis made his Broadway debut in 1946 in Jeb, where he met his 
        wife, actress Ruby Dee, who he married in 1948;
Whereas Ossie Davis went on to perform in many Broadway productions, including 
        Anna Lucasta, The Wisteria Trees, Green Pastures, Jamaica, Ballad for 
        Bimshire, A Raisin in the Sun, The Zulu and the Zayda, and I'm Not 
        Rappaport.
Whereas in 1961, he wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed Purlie 
        Victorious;
Whereas Ossie Davis' first movie role was in No Way Out in 1950, followed by 
        appearances in The Cardinal in 1963, The Hill in 1965, and The 
        Scalphunters in 1968;
Whereas Ossie Davis made his feature debut as a writer/director with Cotton 
        Comes to Harlem in 1970 and later directed Kongi's Harvest in 1971, 
        Black Girl in 1972, Gordon's War in 1973, and Countdown at Kusini in 
        1976;
Whereas Ossie Davis held numerous leading and supporting television and motion 
        picture roles throughout his distinguished career;
Whereas Ossie Davis was a leading activist in the civil rights era of the 1960s 
        when he joined Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the crusade for jobs and 
        freedom and to help raise money for the Freedom Riders;
Whereas Ossie and Ruby Dee Davis, having protested the injustices of the 
        McCarthy Era House Committee on Un-American Activities in the 1950s, 
        were blacklisted from Hollywood;
Whereas Ossie and Ruby Dee Davis raised their voices for numerous causes, 
        including support for the United Negro College Fund, vocal opposition to 
        the Vietnam War, and participation in the August 28, 1963, March on 
        Washington, D.C., at which the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered 
        his ``I Have a Dream'' speech.
Whereas Ossie Davis served for 12 years as master of ceremonies at the annual 
        National Memorial Day Concerts on the grounds of the United States 
        Capitol and was an advocate on behalf of the Nation's veterans;
Whereas Ossie Davis eulogized both Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X at 
        their funerals;
Whereas Ossie Davis was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 1994 and 
        received innumerable honors and citations throughout his life, including 
        the Hall of Fame Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement in 1989, the 
        United States National Medal for the Arts in 1995, the New York Urban 
        League Frederick Douglass Award, NAACP Image Award, and the Screen 
        Actor's Guild Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001;
Whereas Ossie Davis and his wife, Ruby Dee, are the parents of three children 
        and have recently published their joint autobiography, With Ossie and 
        Ruby: In This Life Together; and
Whereas Davis enjoyed a long and luminous career in entertainment along with his 
        wife before he died in Miami, Florida, at the age of 87 on Friday, 
        February 4, 2005, where he was making a movie called ``Retirement'': 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes the extraordinary contributions to the Nation of the 
        late Ossie Davis for his service to the Nation in the military, as a 
        civil rights leader, and as an actor;
            (2) honors him as a great American and pioneer in the annals of 
        American history; and
            (3) expresses its deepest condolences upon his death to his wife 
        Ruby Dee Davis, his other family members, and his friends.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.