Actress and civil rights activist Ruby Dee was remembered in poetry, dance and song at a Harlem church, where Alicia Keys sang her song Superwoman, Wynton Marsalis performed a stirring trumpet solo, and well-wishes were sent from Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte and the White House.
The 3-hour celebration of Lee’s life was held at the cavernous but packed Riverside Church in New York on Saturday. Dee died June 11 at age 91.
Dee’s three children and seven grandchildren shared stories about a woman who was called everything from a “small but mighty lady,” a “street-fighter” and the “voice of our humanity.”
