This is the captivating, inspiring autobiography of a star couple who've celebrated 50 years of marriage. Some years back, our beloved Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis surprisingly revealed in their book, that at one point during their marriage, they allowed each other to have sex with other people, if they so chose to.Now, many people would probably be shocked by this, but they didn’t let that deter them from publicly sharing the intricacies of their marriage with the world. It was like a rediscovery of something from the beginning. And in doing that, we also freed ourselves…Sex is fine, but love is better. Not now…not anymore. The reproduction or distribution of any content is not permitted.Ossie & Ruby, "One Way Ticket" (from "Hands Upon the Heart, vol. Hmmm…we’re not sure, but one thing’s for certain, their marriage has lasted up to their passing and beyond. So, we thought an open marriage was appropriate for us but it turned out not to be. So we decided to give ourselves permission to sleep with other partners if we wished — as long as what we did was honest as well as private, and that neither of us exposed the family to scandal or disease. We had to be discreet and, if the word can be apt, honorable in our behavior, both to ourselves, to whomever else might be involved, and most of all, to the family. Could this be why their marriage lasted so many decades?
For Ossie and Ruby Dee, their open marriage turned out to be a testament to the old school saying: When you truly love someone, let them go and if it’s meant to be, they’ll always come back. All Rights Reserved. Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis were among the signatories, along with Robert Altman, Noam Chomsky, Susan Sarandon, and Howard Zinn, among others. Like we said earlier, for them, it was necessary to have an open relationship, on their quest to finding true love. On the one hand, it was the last time Muhammad and her family would see the body of Ruby Dee, the actress and civil rights activist whose 56-year marriage to actor-activist Ossie Davis … Not since AIDS has entered the equation, and genital herpes, syphilis, and other veneral diseases…”Ruby: “But, we both came to realize that we were very fortunate that, in all of the deep profound, fundamental ways, we really, really only wanted each other. The archive of Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, now at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, traces more than 60 years in the theater, in the movies and at … But often Ossie has said – and I’ve thought too – the best way to have somebody is to let it go. If it doesn’t come back you are free in another kind of sense – in that you find the strength to let go and wish somebody well. The living room of Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee's home is the epitome of 1970s cool chic, with its picture window perched high on a hill overlooking a historic New Rochelle neighborhood. And for the most part, we were.”Ossie:”But looking back, I’d say no matter what did or did not happen, we freed each other. But then that’s what we’re all about, we are moving from one position to another in the process of trying to unravel this thing call life.”They must have been doing something right though, because their marriage lasted for 6 decades (since 1948). It makes sense for this timeline to provide an historical context that allows us to know our place in the line of march; to connect, remember, and appreciate the shoulders on which we stand.This is the captivating, inspiring autobiography of a star couple who've celebrated 50 years of marriage.Join us for a wide-ranging discussion moderated by writer and Emmy-nominated producer Tanya Selvaratnam with Daughters of the Movement: Gina Belafonte, daughter of Julie and […]The Ruby Dee Legacy of Sisterhood Scholarship is made possible by a generous donation to the Delta Research and Educational Foundation (DREF) contributed by Dr. […]NOVEMBER 13, 2018 (Press Photos) – The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at The New York Public Library has acquired the full archive of […]Copyright © 2020. So if we were not a society whom was still successfully able to have the father figure in their children’s lives without the children’s well being being compromised in any way, or is there were no concerns about being judged in society or by your significant other, would we view the idea of open marriages differently?Ruby and Ossie definitely deserve a lot of respect for revealing this info, because they put their love to the ultimate test, which was extremely risky. Could this be why their marriage lasted so many decades? May they both rest well. Some years back, our beloved Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis surprisingly revealed in their book, that at one point during their marriage, Ossie and Ruby thought it was necessary for them to have an open marriage in their quest to find true love.Ruby and Ossie on why they decided to have an open marriage arrangement:“It occurred to us, from observation and reasoning, that extramarital sex was not what really destroyed marriages, but rather the lies and deception that invariably accompanied it — that was the culprit.