The measure of a life

[bibliogramma]

Measure of a Man, Sidney Poitier

I've always deeply admired Sidney Poitier as an actor, and at the same time, I've always been deeply conscious of him as an icon of my youth, one of the ground-breaking black men and women who started pushing - or perhaps were allowed to push, because the times needed something that gave the appearance of movement - the boundaries of what black people were seen to do and have and be. I know what the public parts of Poitier's life have meant to me - so it was interesting to me to read what the man himself is willing to share about what he thinks about his life.

The Measure of a Man isn't a straight-forward autobiography - rather, it is organised about a series of themes, from the influence of poverty and race to the importance of learning and hard work, as Poitier traces his experience and belief about each through his life, before turning to another.

This woven narrative, however, makes very clear the events and circumstances of his life - the growing up in poverty in the Bahamas, moving to Miami and then New York as a very young man, starting a family and a career, reaching the heights of that career, in ways that no one of his race, and few of any race, have managed, growing older and accepting the slow decline of all things. It also makes clear the philosophies that the man have evolved over the years, and chosen to live by.

I can't say I agree with all of his beliefs - there are places where he appears to have made a fetish about the value of poverty in teaching children how to really enjoy the real things in life, and there are ways in which his attitudes toward women remain much influenced by the patriarchal and sexist traditions of his youth and his native culture.

But I'm glad to know more - both what is admirable to me and what is not - about someone who will always be an icon to me.