Aram goudsouzian sidney poitier biography
496 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 20 illus. , appends., notes, bibl., index
- Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4696-2293-4
Published: September 2014 - E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-0-8078-7584-1
Published: January 2011 - E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-7840-3
Published: January 2011
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In such films as Lilies of the Field, In the Heat of the Night, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Poitier's middle-class, mannered, virtuous screen persona contradicted prevailing film stereotypes of blacks as half-wits, comic servants, or oversexed threats. His screen image and public support of nonviolent integration assuaged the fears of a broad political center, and by 1968, Poitier was voted America's favorite movie star.
Through careful readings of every Poitier film, Goudsouzian shows that Poitier's characters often made sacrifices for the good of whites and rarely displayed sexuality. As the only black leading man during the civil rights era, Poitier chose roles and public positions that negotiated the struggle for dignity. By 1970, times had changed and Poitier was the target of a backlash from film critics and black radicals, as the new heroes of "blaxploitation" movies reversed the Poitier model.
In the 1970s, Poitier shifted his considerable talents toward directing, starring in, and producing popular movies that employed many African Americans, both on and off screen. After a long hiatus, he returned to starring roles in the late 1980s. More recently, the film industry has reappraised his career, and Poitier has rec
Aram Goudsouzian
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Bizot Family Professor
agoudszn@memphis.edu
Office Hours
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Education
Ph.D., History, Purdue University, 2002
Fields of interest
My research is in 20th century American history, with a particular focus on race, politics, and culture. Most of my books and articles have examined the era of the civil rights movement from a variety of angles, though my most recent book is on the presidential election of 1968, and I am pursuing some projects in U.S. sports history.
Courses taught
United States History Since 1877, The Civil Rights Movement, The U.S. Since 1945, African-American History
Representative publications
Books
- The Men and the Moment: The Election of 1968 and the Rise of Partisan Politics in America (University of North Carolina Press, 2019)
- Down to the Crossroads: Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Meredith March Against Fear (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2014)
- King of the Court: Bill Russell and the Basketball Revolution (University of California Press, 2010)
- Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon (University of North Carolina Press, 2004)
- The Hurricane of 1938 (Commonwealth Editions, 2004)
Edited Books
- An Unseen Light: Black Struggles for Freedom in Memphis, Tennessee, co-edited with Charles W. McKinney Jr. (University Press of Kentucky, 2018)
Graphic Books
- Man on a Mission: James Meredith and the Battle of Ole Miss, illustrated by Bill Murray (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2022)
Book chapters
- “Revolts of the Black Athletes: Race, Sport, and Activism from the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter,” with Scott N. Brooks, Francoise Hamlin and Charles McKinney, eds., From Rights to Lives: The Evolution of the Black Freedom Struggle (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2024)
- "Protest, Politics, and Paradox: The Black Freedom Struggle in Memphis," Karen B. Golightly and Jonathan Judaken, eds., M
- Aram Goudsouzian is the Bizot
Aram Goudsouzian is the Bizot Family Professor of History at the University of Memphis, where he teaches courses on modern American history, with a particular focus on race, politics, and culture. His most recent book is The Men and the Moment: The Election of 1968 and the Rise of Partisan Politics in America (University of North Carolina Press, 2019). His book Down to the Crossroads: Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Meredith March Against Fear (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2014) won the McLemore Book Prize from the Mississippi Historical Society. He is also the author of two biographies of significant popular culture figures during the civil rights era: King of the Court: Bill Russell and the Basketball Revolution (University of California Press, 2010); and Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon (University of North Carolina Press, 2004). He wrote another short book called The Hurricane of 1938 (Commonwealth Editions, 2004) about the costliest natural disaster in American history until that time, and he has written articles in journals such as The Journal of American Studies, Study the South, Journal of the Historical Society, and American Studies. He is a regular contributor to Chapter 16, the online book review journal of Humanities Tennessee, and a frequent book reviewer for the Washington Post. He earned his PhD from Purdue University and his BA from Colby College.
Experience
–present
Professor of History, University of Memphis
Education
2002
Purdue University, PhD in History
- In the first full biography of
- Sidney Poitier, Aram Goudsouzian, In
Goudsouzian, Aram 1973-
PERSONAL:
Born 1973, in Winchester, MA; son of Nishan (a doctor) and Mary Goudsouzian. Education: Colby College, B.A., 1994; University of Massachusetts, M.A., 1997; Purdue University, Ph.D., 2002.
ADDRESSES:
Office—Department of History, University of Memphis, 122 Mitchell Hall, Memphis, TN 38152-34350; fax: 901-678-2720. E-mail—[email protected].
CAREER:
Historian and author. Suffolk University, history instructor, 2001-03; University of Massachusetts, Boston, history instructor, 2002-03; Hamilton College, visiting assistant professor of history, 2003; University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, assistant professor of history.
AWARDS, HONORS:
Booklist Top Ten Biographies of 2004 citation, 2004, for Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon.
WRITINGS:
Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon, University of North Carolina Press (Chapel Hill, NC), 2004.
The Hurricane of 1938, Commonwealth Editions (Beverly, MA), 2004.
SIDELIGHTS:
Historian Aram Goudsouzian is the author of a highly acclaimed biography of actor Sidney Poitier. Hailed by Booklist critic Jack Helbig as a "scholarly" work that "reads like a well-written, highly addictive novel," Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon traces the rise of this black actor from the son of a poor farmer in the Bahamas to celebrity status in Hollywood, where he starred in such films as Lilies of the Field, In the Heat of the Night, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. In 2002 Poitier was awarded an Academy Award for lifetime achievement.
For Khalil Abdullah, writing in the Black Issues Book Review, Goudsouzian's biography is "in many ways a portrait of an industry that not only reflects public sentiment but often seeks to shape it." Abdullah further felt that Goudsouzian portrays Poitier "as a human being [with] strengths, frailties and insecurities," and he called the book a "well-written, invaluable resource for devotees of film and social history." However, Richard Schickel, writing in t