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Canada Lee

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@ National Portrait Gallery

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Born New York CityA groundbreaking actor who was unafraid to challenge racial stereotypes, Canada Lee worked on and off stage to dismantle barriers erected by bigotry. Following his critically acclaimed portrayal of Bigger Thomas in the 1941 Broadway adaptation of Richard Wright’s Native Son, Lee sought out roles that represented African Americans as multidimensional human beings rather than as racial caricatures. In 1944 he embraced radio as a means of promoting racial tolerance when he became the narrator for New World A-Coming—the first radio program in the nation to address what was then termed "the Negro question." Politically active throughout the 1940s, Lee was falsely branded a Communist at the height of his career. Blacklisted and barred from working in the American entertainment industry, he gave his final performance in the 1951 British film Cry, the Beloved Country, the first motion picture to deal with apartheid.Nacido en la ciudad de New YorkActor pionero que no temió desafiar los estereotipos raciales, Canada Lee luchó en los escenarios y fuera de ellos por derribar las barreras de la intolerancia y el prejuicio. Luego de su aclamada actuación de 1941 en Broadway como Bigger Thomas en la adaptación de la novela Native Son, de Richard Wright, Lee buscó papeles que presentaran a los afroamericanos como seres multidimensionales y no como caricaturas raciales. En 1944 vio en la radio un vehículo para promover la tolerancia racial y aceptó ser el narrador de New World A-Coming, primer programa radial del país que abordó lo que...
Type:
Image
Format:
Gelatin Silver Print
Rights:
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
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National Portrait Gallery

Record Harvested From

Smithsonian Institution