Sidney Poitier (1927-2022)
Filed under the name Sidney · February 21, 2026
Sidney Poitier was the first Black man to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, and everything I've ever read about him says he carried that honor, and every role before and after it, with a dignity that people still talk about today. I had a student, a little boy, back in the seventies, quiet and dignified in that same unusual way for a child that age, and I've thought of him more than once reading up on Mr. Poitier for this column. Dignity's an old-fashioned word, I know, but I don't know a better one for what it takes to be first at something under a spotlight that isn't always kind, and to make it look like grace instead of struggle. My church has talked about him in sermons before, believe it or not, as an example of doing hard things the right way. That's the kind of legacy worth teaching to grandchildren, and I intend to, the next chance I get one to sit still long enough to listen.