The Measure of a Man (23 page)

Poitier, Sydney (daughter)

Poitier, Teddy (sister)

Porgy and Bess

Poverty: American

on Cat Island

in Nassau, Bahamas

Poitier family, economic struggles of

syndrome

Powell, Adam Clayton, Jr.

Power versus powerless

Promises, Promises

Racism: acting, lack of roles for black actors, 1950s

acting, stereotyped roles

black artists traveling and

black schools

Cat Island, lack of

charm, as survival tactic

Defiant Ones
, message of, and

dreams and bonding

genocide

in Hollywood

institutionalized

Nassau, class structure

Nassau, Poitier’s first exposure to

Miami, Poitier’s confrontation with in

parental lectures and

Patch of Blue
and

politics and cultural conflict, 1950s

reaction to Hilda Simms in television play

segregation in Atlanta restaurant

self-esteem and

self-image and

social conscience of filmmakers and

student activism and

wariness and

Whipper, Leigh, and

Raisin in the Sun

Randolph, A. Philip

Richards, Lloyd

Risk: childhood on Cat Island and

childhood in Nassau and

learning about

stretching one’s abilities and

Robeson, Paul

Rolle, Yorick

Rose, Doris

Rose, Philip

Sagan, Carl

Sands, Diana

Sense memory

Sensitivity panel (inherited talents and tendencies)

Silvera, Frank

Simms, Hilda

Simplicity, virtue of

on Cat Island

See also
Materialism

Smith, Anna DeVere

Smith, Will

Snipes, Wesley

Society, contemporary: courageous commitment, supporting

cultural messages to children

effect on children’s minds

material prosperity of

oppression in

progress in

Smith, Baron

Spirituality: evolution of Poitier’s

faith

false beliefs

fate, unseen forces, or mysteries

Gaia (Mother Earth) and

God

hope and

interconnectedness of life

knowing, innate

Nature and

science and

sensitivity panel (inherited talents and tendencies)

speaking in tongues

Staples, Brent

Steiger, Rod

Stir Crazy

Susskind, David

Sutton, Jojo

Tap Dance Kid

Terkel, Studs

Theresa Hotel, New York

“Time of ashes,”

To Sir, with Love

Tracy, Spencer

United Artists

Values; beyond materialism

environment and

father’s teaching, “true measure of a man,”

honoring parents’

Mandela and

Poitier, loyalty oaths, refusing to sign

Poitier’s primary

Poitier’s work ethic

reaching beyond human frailties

relativity of

work as means to convey

Vietnam War

Walker, Bill

Wallace, George

Washington, Denzel

Waters, Ethel

Whipper, Leigh

White, Walter

“Why Do White Folks Love Sidney Poitier So?,”

Wilkins, Roy

Winters, Shelley

Wright, Richard

Young, Whitney

Zanuck, Darryl