What's The Link Between This Black Actress And A Confederate Cemetery?

Beah Richards
Via Wikipedia
Leslie Taylor-Grover
September 3, 2021

The first impression many had of Beah Richards was of an older woman with few words. After all, that’s how white Hollywood typecasted her. But that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

Known for her portrayals of elderly women, Richards’ raw talent and devotion to her craft established her as a force to be reckoned with onstage. Nevertheless, there was something more powerful about her life that happened away from Hollywood.

Richards organized our people to fight against racism and capitalism. But she did so, not through community work or even through her work on stage – her powerful call to action for our people went far beyond that.

She was a powerful writer, and her poetry invoked such emotion that those who read and heard her words joined the fight for Black freedom. Of course, white people feared her influence, and she was put under surveillance by the FBI. 

She didn’t care. Upon her death, she did something so petty, as a final “screw you” to white fear, that it still inspires us today!

She had her ashes spread across a Confederate cemetery! Richards refused to let white Hollywood – or white America – define her. She continued her fight for liberation even after her death!

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