Cicely L. Tyson
Source: Wikipedia: Cicely Tyson
Arts & Music • Historical Archive • 🇺🇸 United States • 19 views

Cicely L. Tyson 🇺🇸

Cicely Tyson (Known as "Cicely Tyson")
["actress","model","civil_rights_activist","author"]
Born Dec 19, 1924 🇺🇸 New York City, United States
Passed Away Jan 28, 2021 New York City, United States
Lifespan 96 years old
19 views
Notice / Correction
"I made a conscious decision not to work unless a project would illuminate something about the Black experience that was noble and beautiful."

Archival Overview

Trailblazing American actress whose seven-decade career shattered racial barriers with dignified portrayals of Black women in Sounder, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, and Roots, receiving an honorary Academy Award.

Biographical Record

Cicely L. Tyson was born in Harlem to immigrant parents from the Caribbean island of Nevis. Discovered by Ebony magazine, she became a successful fashion model before dedicating herself to acting. Tyson made an uncompromising career decision early on never to accept roles that demeaned African American women, deliberately refusing exploitation films and drug-related stereotypes.

Tyson earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for Sounder (1972) and won two Primetime Emmy Awards for her tour de force aging from age 23 to 110 in the television film The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974). She starred as Binta in the historic miniseries Roots (1977) and won a Tony Award at age 88 for The Trip to Bountiful (2013). Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, she published her bestselling memoir Just as I Am days before her passing.

Key Life Milestones

January 31, 1974

Emmy Wins for Miss Jane Pittman

Won two Emmy Awards for her extraordinary title portrayal in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.

November 18, 2018

Honorary Academy Award

Became the first African American woman to receive an Honorary Oscar celebrating her transformative body of work.

Memorial Guestbook & Tributes

0 messages recorded

Leave a Respectful Tribute

No tributes recorded yet. Be the first to leave a message in honor of Cicely L. Tyson.

Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial
Woodlawn Cemetery
The Bronx, New York, United States
GPS: 40.8892, -73.8734
View on Memory Atlas
Archival Standards PastLegacies adheres to strict neutral biographical guidelines and legal standards of remembrance. Next-of-kin may request modifications or removal at any time via our expedited process.