>> tonight a tribute to one of the countries most accomplished performers. she was a true trailblazer. one of those heroes singled out just last sunday night. over seven decades ruby dee game is outstanding performances in plays and the raisin in the sun. along with her husband she was at the forefront of the human rights movement.

i have the honor of speaking with her twice on this program. tribute to the legendary ruby dee coming up right now. ♪ >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. inc. you. -- thank you. ♪

tavis: i only have 30 minutes. i can't do justice to your work in 30 minutes. i wonder if you might indulge me and let the tell you about this journey. what might it have been like with your late great husband to be in charge of the program at the march on washington? you guys ran the program that day. >> the most remarkable thing was malcolm coming to our hotel room. he came in by himself. we were waiting to go downstairs. we were amazed to see him because no one knew he was coming. let it be known to the proper people he was there and if they needed his help, he

would be discrete. discrete is the word he used. us to let somebody in that march no. -- know. he said other than that he doesn't want his presence known. he doesn't want any attention, but he didn't want anything to go down. that's amazing. we heard that story. we think of that day as dr. king's greatest day. here is malcolm x in the city and came there to tell you he was there. speaking of malcolm x and ossie , your husband was the only person to speak at malcolm's funeral and martin's funeral. yeah, i can't get over it.

.e were privileged my brother was one of the first disciples. my brother introduced us to malcolm. he introduced us to the whole movement. we had a party. everyone we knew. so many people came to our little house to meet malcolm. so amused by our first listening to malcolm speed. -- speak. he was so young, and he talked for such a long time.

i shook hands and said, you are malcolm. i said, you know you kept saying the same thing over and over. he said, what? inhas a crooked little grin the corner of his mouth. he said, you have to say things over and over before people get the message. i remember that. you said sidney and harry . what do you make of the fact that here is a class with ruby davis and harry ?elafonte what do you make of the fact you are kids in every one of you and

of becoming not just good actors and great actors, but all of you went on to become iconic figures? >> what i would like to remember , that dream that , wel and fred o'neill had all became carriers of the dream. it's not really true. they are the dream carriers. the people who pass on the dream for you to carry. you can't back away from it. you have to accept it. you have to pass it on.

you have to pick up the weapons tribeense and protect the , and you have to take responsibility, and you have to raise the children, and you have to be an example, and you have there is nogs work. such thing as backing down. when you finally realize that that is when life becomes exciting. you don't have to be so pervasive. whatever you do is enough if you can get it together and pass it on. that is one of the things i have learned as i have gotten older. if you are too old to fight,

just walk back there and pick up one of those children and walk as far as you can to give it to somebody else. your assignment is never through. don't use that as an excuse. we have got to hit it. hit the bricks. learned from've those times and those people. tavis: i could listen to you talk all day long. the calling you and ossie davis responded to, but as an act or, what made you do that? there are a lot of folk of that don'to are being told you

become an activist. you want to work. you don't want to be on the front line, and for you and i'll there wasn'tsie any doubt that you were just actors. you were citizens. you were black. all the things you have done unapologetically with no thought negative to the impact it might have on your career. >> i believe in everything having to do with arts. compare it to being a musician. we learn notes in the scale and songs. steps andas choreography. you learn about the composers but asu are a musician, an actor you have certain discipline in each of these art

forms. as an actor your text is the whole of life. everybody and everything in it. the art of coming -- becoming anybody. it's like lending yourself to this astonishing human experience. it's an incredible series of circumstances earring human. -- being human. it's something we will never stop defining. where the odds are so important. understands begin to the magnificence of being a

human being. i find myself having to say that . how dare you think that only do know the truth? everything, everybody. our comprehension is even deeper than we know. we couldn't invent something we weren't capable of dreaming up. we have the equipment to be and nine stein. our -- to be einstein. that's our equipment. we come with it. who are we to deny that?

we are so magnificent we don't even know it. you understand. absolutely. >> how dare we look down our nose at anyone else, indeed, even ourselves? we don't have time to discover how extraordinary we are. that's one thing i love about this business of acting. you can keep peeling away the levels. you will never get to the end. whatever bottom you think you have reached you have opened a whole new thing of fish. keep working. >> i work. i don't even like the word retirement.

to tell myself, who i am and that i am through now. retire becauseto i am afraid something in me will listen and make it possible. i have to discourage whatever thatthey need is in me -- amy is in me. you can work through me as long as you want to. this is why i love you so much. >> we are getting older now. every time you get to the ultimate, it is like peeling the

paper off. you are going to peel that thing back. all new door is going to open up. that is what i am finding in my old age. i say the use of my senior hood. hood.th of my senior tavis: how do you have this outlook post ossie. was never agree for. he had us all laughing at his mother's funeral. he wasdn't cry because talking about his mother, and we had to smile.

there was something about how we were enjoying and not thinking about the death. when thing he used to say all when he came to the hospital or he goes to a funeral, he wasn't of mourner. if you were expecting somebody to cry with you, he was the wrong person. you had to move away from the fear. one of the things he was fond of , we do this and we do that. sometimes we would have things hard and i would borrow money.

before i know it he would lend the money to somebody else. just a small example of the type he couldity he had. have two socks that matched or not. i later came to understand that. it was good what richness was. say when theways kids started crying, what can we do to fix that? they aree do that and still crying, and he would say, you have to down it and get around it. that's his favorite saying. tavis: i am pleased and honored when ruby dee comes to see me.

she is talked about for her acar-nominated role in american gangster. this is her first ever nomination. she is also covered in essence magazine. every time i see you i am inspired by our conversation. i was teasing her when she walked out. when her people told me she was going to be in town, i wanted to have her on the show, but i almost passed on it. the last time we talked we were in new york, and we are still getting phone calls. people say the best conversation i have ever abducted was with you. >> we realize we are each other. one thing i realized about being an actor, you are like a big

tunnel through which circumstances and racism and sexism, everything passes. it becomes the stuff of what you do. a musician learns the notes. an actor has all those things. it occurs to us that that is the stuff of life. we are all students. we walked through each other. job is to relax and open the door and let things come through. careful something comes through that is not going to damage the entrance. this: what you make of nomination at this point in your life? >> the oscars?

what do i make of it? you know what? i have to tell you, when i was young, first hearing about the oscars, i was at the bakery shop window looking at all the goodies, knowing i am going to andn there and buy it, circumstances pounded it into me that i didn't have the right to go in there and buy something. magazines, ande i finally realized i wasn't going to be a starlet in hollywood, and the newcomers that come along from the big producing companies, so i let it go, but something else came in.

people like you who look into the human condition, but a gate closes so you won't bang your head against anymore store windows or iron fences. it doesn't exist for you anymore. that's what happened to me. but it came on the ground. >> in a different sense. there is something about racism. racism destroys self-confidence. it stomps on daring. that is what it does to our children. it shortens our reach.

we begin to believe everything said about us. we buy into it. thought i was tough, when i look back, i was all of because i didn't know how to buck the rejection i felt. i backed away from the oscars and hollywood. now things are different in hollywood. it's part of the world growing in its outreach, and it has looked at fairness and some of the most remarkable people i have known to help break down have beenrs of racism

we get all that. kinds. tavis: every time you come on the program there are four or five jewels you drop. racism stomps on daring. that's beautiful. >> not everybody. be one of themld because i was tough. i really wasn't. everybody keeps saying the same thing, which is it is a wonderful thing for you to be as chronologically gifted as you are and now receiving an academy award. everyone knows if you are to win on sunday night you would be the oldest actor to ever walk on stage and except an academy an academy award

. >> you don't mean. tavis: it's true. i don't want to take away from your wonderful role in american gangster. you did your thing, but is there you think wasole as academy worthy as what you did in american gangster? >> things are so relative. i see things i was really proud of. ?avis: what are you proud of >> i am proud of being in ossie's play. i am proud of long days journey into night. then three seasons on public television. exciting daysmost of my life. to do whatever

we wanted to do. they wrote original material. i am trying to desperately bring some of those things back. we were free to do whatever we wanted to do. although we were limited in budget, they told us how to spend the money. not because i am sitting here -- that's one of the things i say about public television. but i done some pictures, freedombelieve in the and creative process that permits us to exchange ideas without barriers. you understand. tavis: not only do i understand. i am sure the executives will it willt and cut it up.

be used in a spot sometime in the not-too-distant future. i am always honored when she comes to see me. her name is ruby dee. i love you. all the best on sunday night. life andlong distinguished career ruby dee earned not only the onerous but the love and respect of her family, friends, community, and her country. thanks for watching, and as always, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: i am tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation about fathers and sons with carl reiner and his son rob reiner. we will see you then.

♪ >> and by contributions to you to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ i

tonight on "quest" -- from software to biotechnology, california's economy is increasingly driven by innovation. but when it comes to science education, the golden state's public schools languish near the bottom of the national rankings. join "quest" tonight for a half-hour special on california's science education struggles. meet top teachers and learn about some of the innovative programs aimed at turning around our poor science grades. major funding for "quest" is provided by -- the national science foundation.