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Celebrating Sidney Poitier

A guide with print and visual resources for research on Sidney Poitier. Actor, film director, civil rights activist, author, and ambassador, Poitier was a groundbreaking international film icon.

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Sidney Poitier New American Film School

The Sidney Poitier New American Film School inspires the next generation of diverse filmmakers and storytellers. Like Walter Cronkite and Sandra Day O’Connor, luminaries within their disciplines for whom ASU’s School of Journalism and College of Law are named respectively, Sidney Poitier is a national hero and international icon. His talents and character have defined ethical, inclusive and powerful work in filmmaking. This is also a full-circle moment. Poitier is the first Black man to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his role in the 1963 film “Lilies of the Field,” which was set and shot in Arizona – as was “Stir Crazy,” the blockbuster comedy with which Poitier became the first Black director to helm a film that grossed over $100 million. In naming this school, we signal our commitment to excellence and inclusion and carry forward Sidney Poitier’s legacy through the lives of the thousands of students who will learn their craft and strengthen their voice at the Sidney Poitier New American Film School. 

The ASU Library acknowledges the twenty-three Native Nations that have inhabited this land for centuries. Arizona State University's four campuses are located in the Salt River Valley on ancestral territories of Indigenous peoples, including the Akimel O’odham (Pima) and Pee Posh (Maricopa) Indian Communities, whose care and keeping of these lands allows us to be here today. ASU Library acknowledges the sovereignty of these nations and seeks to foster an environment of success and possibility for Native American students and patrons. We are advocates for the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems and research methodologies within contemporary library practice. ASU Library welcomes members of the Akimel O’odham and Pee Posh, and all Native nations to the Library.