Actress/Activist Ruby Dee Dead at 91

Another Legend has gone home.

Ruby Dee dead at 91: Legendary stage and screen actress — and Civil Rights leader — frequently costarred with husband Ossie Davis

Family member confirms death. Dee was living in New Rochelle.

BY Joe Neumaier , Joe Dziemianowicz , Nancy Dillon /

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS /

Stage and screen legend Ruby Dee, who personified grace, grit and progress at a time when African-American women were given little space in movies and on stage, died Wednesday in New Rochelle, N.Y. She was 91.

The death was confirmed Thursday by a family member, who declined to answer any questions pending the release of a statement.

"She died late (Wednesday) with her whole family around her," family friend Latifah Salahudin told the Daily News. "All three kids and seven grandkids were there, surrounding her with so much love. She went peacefully from natural causes. We should all be so lucky."

"She was so full of life and so strong. Such a powerful woman. We're all going to miss her," Salahudin added.



The Cleveland-born, New York-raised actress and activist — winner of an Emmy, a Grammy and a Screen Actors Guild award, among others — not only starred on Broadway (“Take It From the Top!” “Two Hah Hahs and a Homeboy”), film (Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” and “Jungle Fever”), and TV (“All God’s Children,” “Feast of All Saints”), but, with her husband and collaborator Ossie Davis, was a major figure in the Civil Rights movement.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/ruby-dee-dead-91-article-1.1827040#ixzz34RwXxx4q

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The Homegoing for Dr. Maya Angelou

Dr. Maya Angelou has passed away at the age of 86

Maya Angelou, Lyrical Witness of the Jim Crow South, Dies at 86

By MARGALIT FOX

MAY 28, 2014

Maya Angelou, the memoirist and poet whose landmark book of 1969, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” — which describes in lyrical, unsparing prose the author’s girlhood in the Jim Crow South — was among the first autobiographies by a 20th-century black woman to reach a wide general readership, died on Wednesday in her home. She was 86 and lived in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Her death was confirmed by her longtime literary agent, Helen Brann. No immediate cause of death had been determined, but Ms. Brann said Ms. Angelou had been in frail health for some time and had had heart problems.

As well known as she was for her memoirs, which eventually filled six volumes, Ms. Angelou (pronounced AHN-zhe-lo) very likely received her widest exposure on a chilly January day in 1993, when she delivered the inaugural poem, “On the Pulse of Morning,” at the swearing-in of Bill Clinton, the nation’s 42nd president, who, like Ms. Angelou, had grown up poor in rural Arkansas.

She has received over 50 honorary degrees and was Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University.

Angelou is famous for saying, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

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Dr. Margaret Burroughs, founder of the DuSable Museum of African-American History, passes away at 93

from theChicago Sun-Times:


Margaret Burroughs, founder and Director Emeritus of the DuSable Museum of African American History, is pictured in June 2009.

DuSable Museum founder, cultural leader Margaret Burroughs dead at 93
November 21, 2010
BY MARY HOULIHAN Staff Reporter

Margaret Burroughs, an artist, poet, educator and founder of the DuSable Museum of African American History, died early Sunday morning at her home surrounded by her family.

Mrs. Burroughs legacy reaches across the spectrum, and is a distinctive contribution to black culture.

“Every individual wants to leave a legacy; to be remembered for something positive they have done for their community,” Mrs. Burroughs once told Ebony magazine. “Long after I’m dead and gone, the DuSable Museum will still be here.”

Mrs. Burroughs, 93, was born in St. Rose, La., and had a lifelong passion for learning. She moved with her family north to Chicago where she attended Englewood High School. She would go on to attend Chicago Normal College, Chicago Teachers College and the School of the Art Institute.

The DuSable got its start in 1961 during a meeting at Mrs. Burroughs’s home. Originally called the Ebony Museum of Negro History and Art, it was relocated in 1971 from Burroughs’ home to Washington Park and renamed for Haitian trader Jean Baptist Pointe DuSable, Chicago’s first permanent settler.

Mrs. Burroughs was the author of children’s books and volumes of poetry that spoke to the African-American experience.

Mrs. Burroughs taught art for more than 20 years at DuSable High School.

She worked in sculpture and painting but it was her skill as a printmaker that she became best known for. Her linoleum block prints featured images relevant to African-American culture.

At Mrs. Burroughs request, there will be no funeral service. A public memorial will be held after the holidays.

She was a legend in Chicago. Respected and revered, far and wide.