I hope to follow in her footsteps, of course.
Find out what caused this American legend of
stage and screen to share an emotional
on-camera moment with our Anjuli Teja.
I'm confessing that I love you, tell me do you
love me too?
Welcome back.
In the past, our metro cameras traveled across
the border and southeast to Miami for the
American Black Film Festival.
In 2005, we focused on a film festival a little
closer to home.
Stars were out in broad daylight for the
Juneteenth Film Festival Awards and Tribute.
There was a living legend, a child star all
grown up, an elegant Erika Badu and many other
familiar faces.
The annual event celebrates celebrities and
black history.
Juneteenth is a story, it's a story of freedom
and nothing is better at storytelling than film.
We were talking about this story, we were in
the Bahamas.
The three-day event included workshops with
Hollywood insiders, featured 14 short films
and the winning Emancipation Series Showcase
film, Justice.
From the beginning of the Juneteenth Film
Festival, along with offering a venue for new filmmakers,
we wanted to honor a film that speaks to the
African-American experience.
We have really generations at risk and we've
got to continue to work to free our minds,
to free our souls and this is such an important
film festival and it was so beautifully done tonight.
We're just very deeply humbled to be a part of
this festival.
The festival was so moving, one out of town
participant may relocate.
And I will gladly always come back to Dallas.
One woman backstage said, you know we've
adopted you, you are a Dallasite and I gladly received
that blessing.
Actress Ruby Dee, an American legend of stage
and screen, received special honors from the
Juneteenth Film Festival Foundation.
Miss Dee, who is the widow of renowned actor
Ossie Davis, talked with our Angelique Tejé
in her first Dallas television interview since
the death of her husband.
Honey, why can't you stop fighting me?
In her over 60-year film career, actress Ruby
Dee shared fictional feelings with actors
like Sidney Poitier.
I know where we lost it, we have.
She recently shared real ones with me.
And these just say well.
Trying to stay poised when talking about true
love and true loss is hard.
Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee were the Will and
Jader of their time.
In the African-American community, the pair
were more than stage and screen icons.
We looked up to you as the couple that worked
together, that stayed together, you were the
epitome of love.
How do you feel about being seen as that?
Well, I think the business about being the
epitome of love comes like an afterthought,
you know.
I've had that happen to me.
You see people, you just take them for granted
and suddenly they die.
And suddenly all that they meant to you that
you weren't conscious of comes to mind and
you feel a gratitude and a sorrow that they
leave and I think people have felt that way
about my husband.
I know I did, I didn't realize, I didn't stop
to think about being, oh what a fortunate
thing to have been married to Ossie for 56 years.
I didn't think about it.
In this life together with Ossie and Ruby is an
account of their love and happiness.
Don't stare at me.
The evil eye doesn't work on me.
Mother system, you've been talking about me for
18 years.
She starred with her husband in several classic performances.
Their more contemporary work included several
Spike Lee joints.
Why did you and your husband choose to work
with Spike Lee so often?
Choose, Spike Lee offered me a job, offered my
husband and I work.
Ruby Dee was born in Ohio October 7th, 1924.
Her legacy isn't just as an actress but also an activist.
I was born into this struggle.
My father brought us with my stepmother all the
way to Harlem to live when I was just
less than a year old.
I remember the depression, poverty and hearing
people talk and people trying to find rooms
in discrimination because they couldn't get
rooms in hotels, entertainers coming to town.
So when I talk about coming into being an
activist, it wasn't something that I suddenly decided.
I don't know any other way to think about things.
Her theatrical body of work began on stage in 1964.
Diverse accomplishments earned the 80-year-old
Alcalades at the 2nd annual Juneteenth Film Festival.
In truth, honors were for Ossie too.
It was such a blessing to have her here, the
legacy of her work and the work of her husband
Ossie Davis.
Gosh, we're just so fortunate to have the
opportunity to honor them.
I hope to follow in her footsteps, of course.
To share a stage with Ruby Dee is something
that I never thought would happen.
I have dreamed of fashioning my life and career
in the model that Ruby Dee has given to just
kind of taste the ashes of the trail that she
has blazed.
The outpouring of love is tremendous, still
doesn't compare to the man she misses.
It's an intense, an intense of being to be with
somebody with whom you can live life
more fully and realize things together.
And that you did.
I think that's why, and I wish that for so many
more people, I wish we could bottle it
or something.
Well, maybe we will.
Ruby Dee, thank you so very much for coming to
Dallas, and congratulations on your award.
Thank you.
Yes, I'm looking forward to it.
Coming up on Metro, Sultry's songstress Liz
Wright's music video will open your eyes.
You've got to cast away the chains of doubt and
have the courage to be free.
Now here's a question.
How much progress are African Americans really
making in North Texas?
The Dallas Morning News is examining that issue
in a series about the black professional class.
There have been conflicting reports in the last
couple of years about whether Dallas
was a great place for African Americans to live
and how significant the professional
class was here.
So we decided to take a hard look at that ourselves.