I not only admired Ossie Davis; I adored him. The actor and activist, who died Feb. 4 at age 87, personified the beauty and complexity of the black experience with all of its travails and triumphs.

Born in Cogdell, Ga., in 1917, Davis attended substandard black schools and watched as the Ku Klux Klan threatened his father. As a student at Howard University in the 1930s, he came to know some of the luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance.

Davis had hoped to be a writer but made his most successful creative expressions on the stage and later in film. He starred in Lorraine Hansberry's legendary play, A Raisin in the Sun, on Broadway, performed in the historic miniseries Roots and had small parts in several films by Spike Lee.

Davis and his life partner for 56 years, Ruby Dee, earned the President's National Medal of the Arts in 1995 for their path-breaking artistic careers. But they received no presidential medal for their careers as political activists, visionaries for a more-just society and symbols of the triumphant spirit of oppressed people the world over.

In the 1930s, Davis moved to Harlem where he became a left-wing artist and intellectual, crossing paths with the likes of W.E.B. DuBois, Paul Robeson and others. He protested lynchings and demanded better working conditions for the poor and exploited. He went off to fight fascism in World War II in a segregated military.

Ossie and Ruby opposed injustice but spoke out most passionately against racism. They picketed stores that refused to hire blacks and refused acting parts that denigrated them. They emceed at the historic March on Washington in 1963. And Davis eulogized both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., in 1965 and 1968, respectively.

He was arrested for opposing the war in Vietnam and was investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee for having friends in the Communist Party.

But the two of them never wavered from their beliefs.

Followed their consciences

They could have had easier lives and more-lucrative careers had they not taken the political stances they did, but they chose to follow their consciences rather than protect their careers. Speaking for the two of them, Ruby wrote in their 1998 memoir, With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together, that ``the largest piece of unfinished business before humankind is, in our opinion, poverty, spiritual as well as material. Racism, yes, and sexism, too; unemployment, drugs, child abuse, black boys too much in prison. Oh, yes, struggle is all there is, and we are still committed.''

They raised children with similar values, taking pride in a daughter who got involved in her union and a son who became an anti-war activist.

What I really loved about Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee was their love for each other. They married in 1948 after meeting in the theater. They collaborated on numerous projects from Broadway plays to their own radio program in 1975. Despite hardships, setbacks and disappointments, they were devoted and doggedly loyal to each other. And they were joyous about life.

Barbara Ransby is an associate professor in African American studies and history at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

© 2005 Miami Herald

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