Life Beyond Measure (26 page)

Dear Reader, I have no tally as to the number of stories, moments, occurrences, life experiences, and serendipitous happenings that, all taken together, have added up to the eighty-one years through which I have managed to, somehow, survive and finally share it all with my great-granddaughter, with you, and with the world at large. How many stories, dear Reader, have been woven into the fabric of my eighty-one years of life? Even the wildest guess might fall far from the mark. All I know for sure is that “stories” are the bedrock on which each human life is built.

With that thought in mind, let me begin by thanking you, my readers, who have become part of my extended family over the years and who have encouraged me through this book to visit old and new turf. Now it is my turn to encourage all of you, particularly those of you who are among my peers, age-wise, to consider setting down some of your stories and recollections for the younger members of your family trees. We are swiftly losing our histories, and many us are the last witnesses to the oral and familial accounts of how we got here. I can assure you that the rewards will be well worth your efforts. As for readers of younger generations, I hope that you might be inspired to take the time out of your busy lives
to ask a few more questions of your folks and your elders. You’ll no doubt find an inheritance to expand your vision of who you are and where you came from—and one that you can pass on to your kids later on. No matter how old or young you are, a journey of discovery is there just for the asking.

Writing this book has certainly been that for me. It would not have been possible or nearly so enjoyable without the support, enthusiasm, talent, and vision of a handful of individuals who are owed my lasting gratitude. This book has been enriched by the formidable skills of two truly gifted editors. Lou Robinson has worked by my side from day one to the completion of the first draft, at which point we were joined by the publisher’s in-house editor, Mim Eichler Rivas. This book of mine could not have rested in more creative, more imaginative hands. Lou Robinson and Mim Rivas’s contributions to this book, I can say with confidence, have been immeasurable.

My enduring thanks go to Jane Friedman, CEO of HarperCollins Publishers, for championing this work from the start, and to Michael Morrison, president of HarperCollins, for being in my corner as well. To the team at HarperOne, the imprint I am pleased to call my publishing home—you have gone beyond the call of duty and I’m forever indebted. Special thanks go to Eric Brandt, senior editor, for your scrupulous devotion to the creative process and for sensitively honoring the spirit of
Life Beyond Measure.
Further thanks belong to HarperOne’s leading lights: Mark Tauber, publisher; Claudia Boutote, associate publisher; Mickey Maudlin, editorial director; Terri Leonard, executive managing editor; and Suzanne Wickham, director of media relations.

As for the team that has assisted me on my end, I must start with a profound, overdue thank-you to the great Mort Janklow, longtime
literary agent and friend. You are a person of courage who always has my back. Everything that I’ve written has been the beneficiary of your encouragement.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the team in the office—to Darwyn Carson and Susan Garrison, two brilliant women I’m fortunate to know and to have assisting me on a daily basis.

Finally—to my wife, the love of my life, my best friend, thank you for cheering this book on. And to my daughters, my grandchildren, and my great-granddaughters, thank you for your unconditional love. I love you all and I’m so proud to be your old man.

Diligent efforts have been made to locate the copyright owners of all the reprinted photos that appear in this book but some have not been located. In the event that a photo has been printed without permission, the copyright owner should contact the author c/o HarperOne, 353 Sacramento Street, Ste 500, San Francisco, CA 94111,
Attn: Editorial.

All photos are from the author’s personal collection except for the following:

Sidney Poitier at 1963 Academy Awards, © Getty Images

Sidney Poitier after the 2002 Academy Awards, © Berliner Studio/ BEImages

Sidney Poitier with Oprah Winfrey, © Harpo, Inc./All Rights Reserved/Photographer: Kwaku Alston

Photos of Sidney Poitier and his family at his eightieth birthday, © Alberto Vega, Photographer

Note: Entries in this index, carried over verbatim from the print edition of this title, are unlikely to correspond to the pagination of any given e-book reader. However, entries in this index, and other terms, may be easily located by using the search feature of your e-book reader.

abolition, 80

Academy Awards, 128

Acapulco, 172–73, 186 acid rain, 247, 248 addictions, 141–50

Addy, Tralance, 10–12

Africa, 19, 22, 116, 123, 193, 195, 197, 238, 267; culture, 21–23, 142; folk magic, 21; religion, 23

African National Congress, 182, 195

agnosticism, 83

AIDS, 243

Alaska, 19

alcohol, 141, 142, 149–50, 207

Allen, Woody, 262

American Cancer Society, 179

American Negro Theatre, Harlem, 98–99, 106–107, 110

Amsterdam News,
106, 268

Angelou, Maya, 178–79

Anglican Church, 80, 84

animal shelters, 116

Anna Lucasta
(play), 99 apartheid, 174–76, 182–84

Arkansas, 192

Army, U.S., 76–77, 97–98, 169–70

Arthur’s Town, 4, 26, 31–35, 45

Asia, 116, 236, 238

aspirin, 267

astronomy, 25, 87

atheism, 83

Atlanta, xi, 10, 13

Australia, 19

Australopithecus afarensis,
133

Australopithecus africanus,
133

Australopithecus robustus,
133

Azikiwe, Nnamdi, 195

Bahamas, xiii, 4, 7, 23, 26, 30, 31–41, 54, 65, 80, 164, 186, 196; abolition of slavery in, 80

Baldwin, James, 188

Baltimore, 99, 185

Barnard College, 123

baseball, 186–87

basketball, 43

Baum, Marty, 136–37, 172–73

Belafonte, Harry, 173–74

Bell, Alexander Graham, 228

Beth Israel Hospital, New York City, 136

Bethune, Mary McCleod, 192

bigotry, 243

blackjack, 143

Blood, 54

Boleyn, Anne, 80

Bono, 196

Book of Hebrews, 82

Bowers, Reveta, 189

Bradley, Tom, 183

bravery and cowardice, 151–62

British Colonial Hotel, Nassau, 120

Brooklyn Dodgers, 186

Buddhism, 85

Bunche, Ralph, 188, 197

Canada, 19, 147, 229, 248

cancer, 176–80, 242

Candle in the Dark Award, 13, 14

Cape Town, 183–84

Cardod, 167–68

Caribbean, 19, 23; folk magic, 21

Carmichael, Stokely, 174

Carroll, Diahann, 148

cars, 36, 38, 221, 222, 223, 249; driving, 223–24

Carter, Jimmy, 195

Cassavetes, John, 172

Catholicism, 23, 80–84

Cat Island, xiii, 4, 7, 20, 22, 26, 30, 31–35, 36, 38, 44–45, 52, 60–64, 110, 118, 132, 156, 163, 210, 212, 123, 220, 221, 222, 246, 266

cell phones, 230

Center for Early Education, West Los Angeles, 189

Central America, 19

chaos, 117

Chicago, 99

Children’s Defense Fund, 190

China, 19, 238

christening, 10–12

cigarette smoking, 141, 142, 148–49

Civil Rights Act (1964), 194

civil rights movement, 116, 162, 173–74, 191–94

Civil War, 236

climate crisis, 246

Clinton, Bill, 195

close calls, 163–80

cocoa plums, 62, 63

Cold War, 162

college, 147

colonialism, 6, 26, 65, 80, 166–67, 195, 196, 213, 238

comic books, 155

Communism, 187

compassion, 252, 253, 259

compulsion, 157–59

computers, 227, 230

Congress, U.S., 190–91

Connecticut, 99

Constitution, U.S., 217

Cooper, Vernice, 118–19

courage, people of, 181–99

Cry, the Beloved Country
(film), 75, 123, 174, 182

Daguerre, Louis-Jacques-Mandé, 30

dancing, 33–34

Dandridge, Dorothy, 148

Darfur, 116

Davis, Sammy, Jr., 148

death, 257–64

Declaration of Independence, 230

democracy, 217, 230, 242

Democratic National Convention: of 1964, 191; of 1976, 190

diabetes, 242

divorce, 125–26

Doctors Without Borders, 116

drugs, 207

East Carolina University, 43

Eastern Senior, 65

economics, 93–101, 125, 139, 161, 214, 239, 249

Edelman, Marian Wright, 189–90

Edge of the City
(film), 172

Edison, Thomas, 228

Egypt, 226

Einstein, Albert, 272

electricity, 38, 220, 222, 224, 228

energy conservation, 248–49

environment, 232, 233, 245–50

equality, 242

evolution, 233, 234, 237

faith, 251–55

farming, 4, 6, 35, 212

fear, doubt, and desperation, 131–40

films, 117, 221–22, 224, 269; Poitier’s career in, 75, 123, 128, 135–37, 148, 174, 182, 194; racial stereotypes in, 135–37.
See also specific films

Florida, 19–20, 35

folk magic, 21, 79

Foreman, James, 174

France, 236, 238; colonialism, 80, 238

free will, 111

French
Vogue,
128

Ga language, 11

galaxy, 255

gambling, 141, 142–47

garment industry, 121

Gates, Bill, 196

Georgia, 30

Germany, 236, 238

Ghana, 10–11, 195

Gibbs, Emmy, 119

globalization, 247

global warming, 246, 247

Gore, Al, 248

Gouraige, Etienne, xi, 18

Gouraige, Gabrielle, xi, 18

Gouraige, Guylaine, xi, 18

graveyards, 63–64, 132

Great Britain, 80, 195, 196, 213, 236, 239

Great Depression, 267

Greaves, William Garfield, 124, 191

greenhouse-gas emissions, 248

Greenville, North Carolina, 43

guardian angels, 25

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
(film), 128

Haiti, 23, 80, 81

Hamer, Fannie Lou, 191

Hardy, Edward, 44

Hardy, Eleanor, 44

Hardy, Joan, 44

Harlem, xiii, 95–101, 105–110, 120–22, 142, 155, 158, 159, 169–72, 186, 267–68; gambling in, 142–45

heart disease, 242

Henry VIII, King of England, 80

herbal medicine, 267

heroes and role models, 181–99

Hinduism, 85

Hitler, Adolf, 242

Hollywood, 4–5; Poitier’s career in, 56, 70, 75, 82, 128

Holocaust, 89, 217

homelessness, 116

Homo erectus,
133

Homo habilis,
133

Homo sapiens,
237, 238

homosexuality, 188

horse racing, 143

hospitals, racism in, 20

House of Representatives, U.S., 190

Hunter-Gault, Charlayne, 193

Hurricane Katrina, 89, 216

Hussein, Saddam, 240

ice cream, 37–38

India, 19

Indian National Congress, 182

indoor plumbing, 220

Internet, 227

In the Heat of the Night
(film), 128

iPods, 230

Iraq War, 216, 236, 240

Islam, 85

Israel, 188

Italy, 236

jail, 66–67

Jamaica, 122, 123

Japan, 19, 238

Jim Crow, 20, 191–92

Johannesburg, 174

Johnson, Bumpy, 142–45

Johnson, Harry, 71

Johnson, Lyndon B., 193–94

Jordan, Barbara, 190–91

Katrina, Hurricane, 89, 216

Kaunda, Kenneth, 195

Kennedy, Robert, 173

Kenya, 195

Kenyatta, Jomo, 195

King, Alan, 147

King, Martin Luther, Jr., 194, 195

Kitt, Eartha, 148

Ku Klux Klan, 168, 169

LaBarrie, Aisha, xi, xii, xiii, 10, 11, 18, 257

LaBarrie, Ayele: birth of, xi–xii; christening of, 10–12

LaBarrie, Darryl, xii, 11, 43

lactose intolerance, 38

language, 11, 23, 78, 87, 104, 108–109, 241, 266

Las Vegas, 143, 145–46, 147

laundry, 221

Lee, Canada, 174, 176

life-and-death encounters, 163–80

Lilies of the Field
(film), 128

literacy, 108–109, 155

Little Rock Nine, 192

logic and reason, 211–17

London, 148

Los Angeles, 14, 172, 183, 184, 189

The Lost Man
(film), 128

love, 113–30, 240, 241, 252, 253, 259

Lysistrata
(play), 98

Mafia, 142

Mandela, Nelson, 182–85, 195, 197

Mandela and de Klerk
(film), 182, 183, 184

A Man Is Ten Feet Tall
(TV show), 172

The Mark of the Hawk
(film), 148

Marshall, Thurgood, 185, 194, 197

Mason General Hospital, Northport, New York, 169

materialism, 156–57

media, 239

medicine, 267

Memphis, 191

Meredith, James, 192–93

Mesopotamia, 226

Mexico, 172, 186, 229

Miami, xiii, 19–20, 30, 51, 67–68, 81, 94–95, 105, 120, 155, 168–69, 222, 223

Middle East, 239

mirrors, 39–41

Mississippi, 173–74, 190

money, 93–101, 142–45, 157; gambling, 142–46

Morehouse College, 13, 14

Mould, Kamaria Ayele, xi, 259

Mould, William Quoa, 10

Mt. Vernon, New York, 148

music, 117

NAACP, 185

Nassau, xiii, 4, 6, 30, 35–41, 49, 52, 55, 60, 64–67, 76, 94, 118, 146, 153, 164–68, 220–22, 260; Poitier’s return to, 75–77, 81–82, 90–91

Native Americans, xii, 44, 237

Nazis, 217, 242

“near death” experiences, 263

neutral zone, 208–210

New Orleans, 216

Newton, Johnny, 142, 143

New York City, 30, 41, 246; gambling, 142–45; Poitier in, 68–69, 95–101, 105–110, 120–22, 135, 142–45, 155, 158, 159, 169–72, 186, 267–68; race riots, 170–71; theater, 98–99

Niaka, Dickie, 175–76, 182

Nigeria, 148, 195

Nkrumah, Kwame, 195

No Way Out
(film), 75

Nyerere, Julius, 195

Obama, Barack, 196

old age, 215; death and, 257–64

Outten, Mama Gina, 62, 77, 142, 259–60

Outten, Pa Tim, 62, 259–60

overpopulation, 232, 266

Paris, 128

A Patch of Blue
(film), 128

PBS, 193

peace, 236

Peace Corps, 116

people of courage, 181–99

pesticides, 248

Peters, Brock, 148

Philadelphia, 99

philanthropy, 116–17

photography, 30–31, 42

plantation system, 23

Poitier, Anika, xi, 14–18, 129, 149, 178

Poitier, Bertha, 51

Poitier, Carl, 49–50

Poitier, Cedric, 48–49

Poitier, Cyril, 51, 67, 94, 176–77

Poitier, David, 45–48

Poitier, Delores, 51

Poitier, Evelyn Outten (mother of Sidney Poitier), xv, 20–27, 31, 35, 37, 39–40, 46–47, 55, 60, 70–71, 94, 105, 125, 140, 156, 189, 198–99, 212, 221, 259; birth of Poitier, 20–22; death of, 260; religion of, 21–22, 23–24, 77–83, 251; reunited with Poitier, 75–77, 81–82, 90–91; separation from Poitier, 61, 70–71

Poitier, Joanna Shimkus, xi, 14, 15–16, 18, 128–30, 178, 183–84; marriage to Poitier, 128–30, 149–50; smoking of, 149–50

Poitier, Juanita Hardy, xi, xii, xiii, 10, 13–14, 18, 44, 124–26, 186, 188, 257; marriage to Poitier, 124–26, 135–37, 145, 148

Poitier, Kermit, 81

Poitier, Maude, 51

Poitier, Pamela, xi, 18, 126, 129, 136, 179; birth of, 136–37

Poitier, Reginald (brother of Sidney Poitier), 50–51

Poitier, Reginald (father of Sidney Poitier), xv, 6, 20–27, 31, 35, 45–47, 54, 55, 67–68, 70–72, 76, 81–82, 91, 105, 125, 140, 156, 166, 196–99, 212, 213, 269; character of, 26–27, 196–99; death of, 25, 260

Poitier, Ruby, 51

Poitier, Sherri, xi, 18, 126, 129, 184

Poitier, Sidney: Academy Award won by, 128; accent of, 69; acting career of, 56, 70, 75, 82, 98–99, 106–110, 122, 128, 135–37, 142, 148, 174, 182, 194; addictions of, 141–50; in the army, 76–77, 97–98, 169–70; birth of, 20–22, 31; on bravery and cowardice, 151–62; childhood and adolescence of, xiii, 4–5, 22, 29–42, 44–57, 59–72, 118–20, 132, 153–55, 163–68, 266–69; close calls of, 163–80; in
Cry, the Beloved Country,
75, 123, 174, 182; on death, 257–64; early theatrical career of, 98–99, 106–107; early years in America, 68–69, 95–101, 105–110, 120–22, 159, 168–69, 222; in
Edge of the City,
172; education of, 22, 65, 104, 105, 108, 110; eightieth birthday of, 18; on environmental issues, 245–50; fame and success of, 22, 128; as a father, 114, 136–37; on fear, doubt, and desperation, 131–40; first marriage of, 124–26, 135–37, 145, 148; gambling and, 142–47; in
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?,
128; heroes and role models of, 181–99; identity of, 70; impulsiveness of, 158–59; in
In the Heat of the Night,
128; leaves for America, 70–72; in
Lilies of the Field,
128; literacy and, 108–109, 155; as a loner and outsider, 59–72; in
The Lost Man,
128; on logic and reason, 211–17; love and, 113–30; in
Mandela and de Klerk,
182, 183, 184; in
The Mark of the Hawk,
148; in Miami, 67–68, 94–95, 105, 120, 155, 168–69, 222–23; money and, 93–101, 142–45, 157; neutral zone of, 208–210; in New York, 68–69, 95–101, 105–110, 120–22, 135, 142–45, 155, 158, 169–72, 186, 267–68; in
No Way Out,
75; in
A Patch of Blue,
128; personality of, 33, 68–69, 158, 205; physical appearance of, 14–18, 34–35, 39–42; in
Porgy and Bess,
148; prostate cancer of, 177–80; racial prejudice and, 42, 65–66, 68, 105, 135–37, 166–69, 173–76, 217; in
A Raisin in the Sun,
128; on religion, 24–25, 78–91, 251–55; reunited with his parents, 75–77, 81–82, 90–91; on science and society, 219–34; second marriage of, 128–30, 149–50; in
Separate but Equal,
194–95; shadow “friend” of, 32–34; sibling relationships of, 48–56, 176–77, 261; smoking and drinking of, 148–50; stealing and, 153–57; television appearances of, 172; in
To Sir with Love,
128; on war, 235–44; women and, 118–30