Editing Sidney Poitier (section)

==Early life==
Sidney Poitier was born on February 20, 1927, in Miami, Florida.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Grimes|first=William|author-link=William Grimes (journalist)|date=January 7, 2022|title=Sidney Poitier, Who Paved the Way for Black Actors in Film, Dies at 94|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/07/movies/sidney-poitier-dead.html|access-date=January 7, 2022|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=January 7, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220107155212/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/07/movies/sidney-poitier-dead.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He was the youngest of seven children<ref>{{Cite book|title=This Life|last=Poitier|first=Sidney|publisher=Knopf (US), Random House (Canada)|year=1980|location=US, Canada|pages=2, 5|quote=At this point [his father, Reginald Poitier] still had four boys and two girls (quite a few to make it through)... (2); When Reginald and Evelyn Poitier returned to Cat Island from Miami, carrying me—the new baby they now called 'Sidney'—they were greeted by their six children... my older brother Cyril, fifteen; Ruby, thirteen; Verdon (Teddy) [female], eleven; Reginald, eight; Carl, five; and Cedric, three. (5)}}</ref> born to Evelyn ({{nee|Outten}}) and Reginald James Poitier, [[Afro-Bahamian]] farmers who owned a farm on [[Cat Island, Bahamas|Cat Island]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Goudsouzian|first=Aram|date=April 25, 2004|title=Sidney Poitier|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/25/books/chapters/sidney-poitier.html|access-date=January 10, 2022|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=January 10, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110124358/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/25/books/chapters/sidney-poitier.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The family would travel to Miami to sell tomatoes and other produce to wholesalers. His father also worked as a cab driver in [[Nassau, Bahamas|Nassau]].<ref name="Interview">{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200806/20080609.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090316054952/http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200806/20080609.html|url-status=dead|title=Tavis Smiley interviews Sidney Poitier|publisher=[[PBS]]|archive-date=March 16, 2009}}</ref><!--ENDRef--> Poitier was born unexpectedly in Miami while his parents were there on business; his birth was [[Preemie|two months premature]], and he was not expected to survive, but his parents remained in Miami for three months to nurse him to health.<ref name="Aram Goudsouzian 2004 p.8">Goudsouzian, Aram, ''Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon'' (2004), p. 8.</ref> Poitier grew up in the Bahamas, then a [[British Crown colony]]. His birth in the United States [[Birthright citizenship in the United States|entitled him]] to US citizenship.<ref name="Aram Goudsouzian 2004 p.8" />

Although there were few Poitiers of French ancestry in the Bahamas,<ref>{{cite book |last=Goudsouzian |first=Aram |url=https://archive.org/details/sidneypoitierman00goud |title=Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8078-2843-4 |editor= |page=9 |url-access=registration}}</ref> some believe that the Poitier ancestors had migrated from [[Haiti]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ifogo.com/1Authors/Sidney%20Poitier/poitier.html |title=Bio – Sidney Poitier |access-date= May 6, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140506092315/http://ifogo.com/1Authors/Sidney%20Poitier/poitier.html |archive-date=May 6, 2014 }}</ref> and were probably among the runaway slaves who established [[Maroon (people)|maroon]] communities throughout the Bahamas, including Cat Island. There had, however, been one Poitier of French ancestry on Cat Island, [[Plantation owner|planter]] Charles Leonard Poitier, who had immigrated from Jamaica in the early 1800s, possibly originally from Haiti. In 1834, following the [[Slavery Abolition Act 1833|abolition of slavery]], 86 slaves from his wife's estate kept the Poitier name.

Poitier lived with his family on Cat Island until he was ten, when they moved to Nassau. There he was exposed to the modern world, where he saw his first automobile and first experienced electricity, plumbing, refrigeration, and motion pictures.<ref>{{cite episode|title=Sidney Poitier |series=[[Oprah's Master Class]] |network=[[Oprah Winfrey Network]] |season=1 |number=7 |airdate=April 22, 2012 |url=http://www.oprah.com/topics/entertainment/movies/actors/sidney-poitier.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131027220213/http://www.oprah.com/topics/entertainment/movies/actors/sidney-poitier.htm |archive-date=October 27, 2013 }}</ref><ref>Poitier, Sidney. ''The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography''. (2000). New York. [[HarperCollins]].</ref> He was raised [[Catholic Church|Catholic]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Winfrey|first=Oprah|url=http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/Oprah-Interviews-Sidney-Poitier/11|title=Oprah Talks to Sidney Poitier|work=[[The Oprah Winfrey Show]]|quote=I come from a Catholic family.|date=October 15, 2000|access-date=September 16, 2010|archive-date=December 4, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141204214401/http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/Oprah-Interviews-Sidney-Poitier/11|url-status=dead}}</ref> but later became an agnostic<ref>{{cite book|title=Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great-Granddaughter|year=2009|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-149620-2|first=Sidney |last=Poitier|page=84|quote=The question of God, the existence or nonexistence, is a perennial question, because we don't know. Is the universe the result of God, or was the universe always there?}}</ref> with views closer to [[deism]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Life Beyond Measure|url=https://archive.org/details/lifebeyondmeasur00poit|url-access=registration|year=2009|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-173725-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/lifebeyondmeasur00poit/page/85 85–86]|first=Sidney|last= Poitier|quote=I don't see a God who is concerned with the daily operation of the universe. In fact, the universe may be no more than a grain of sand compared with all the other universes.... It is not a God for one culture, or one religion, or one planet.}}</ref>

At age fifteen, in 1942, he was sent to Miami to live with his brother's large family, but Poitier found it impossible to adjust to the racism in [[Jim Crow]] era Florida.<ref>{{Cite news |last=James |first=Frank |date=May 20, 2009 |title=Sidney Poitier's Reflections Of Dignity |publisher=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2009/05/sidney_poitiers_reflection_of.html |access-date=January 11, 2022 |archive-date=January 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220111210147/https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2009/05/sidney_poitiers_reflection_of.html |url-status=live }}</ref> At sixteen, he moved to New York City, looking to become an actor, holding a string of jobs as a dishwasher in the meantime.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sidney Poitier Biography and Interview|website=achievement.org|date=February 17, 2009|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=https://achievement.org/achiever/sidney-poitier/#interview|access-date=March 16, 2020|archive-date=August 12, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812073442/https://achievement.org/achiever/sidney-poitier/#interview|url-status=live}}</ref> After failing his first audition with the [[American Negro Theatre]] due to his inability to fluently read the script, an elderly Jewish waiter sat with him every night for several months, helping him to improve his reading by using the newspaper.<ref>Goudsouzian, Aram (2004), ''Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon'', University of North Carolina Press, {{ISBN|978-0-8078-2843-4}}, p. 44.</ref><ref name=":0">{{Citation|title=Sidney Poitier: The 2013 "Sunday Morning" interview| date=January 9, 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPI5zev4Too|access-date=January 10, 2022|archive-date=January 10, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110032338/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPI5zev4Too|url-status=live}}</ref> During [[World War II]], in November 1943, he lied about his age (he was only 16 at the time) and enlisted in the [[United States Army|Army]]. He was assigned to a [[Veteran's Administration]] hospital in [[Northport, New York]], and was trained to work with psychiatric patients. Poitier became upset with how the hospital treated its patients and feigned mental illness to obtain a discharge. Poitier confessed to a psychiatrist that he was faking his condition, but the doctor was sympathetic and granted his discharge under [[Section 8 (military)|Section VIII]] of Army regulation 615–360 in December 1944.<ref name="Bergman">{{cite book |last1=Bergman |first1=Carol |title=Sidney Poitier |url=https://archive.org/details/sidneypoitier00berg |url-access=limited |date=1988 |publisher=Chelsea House Publishers |isbn=978-1-55546-605-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/sidneypoitier00berg/page/54 54]–56}}</ref>

After leaving the Army, he worked as a dishwasher until a successful audition landed him a role in an American Negro Theatre production, the same company he failed his first audition with.<ref>Poitier, Sidney. ''The Measure of a Man'' (2000). New York: HarperCollins Publishers.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Chenrow|first=Fred|title=Reading Exercises in Black History|year=1974|publisher=The Continental Press, Inc.|location=Elizabethtown, PA|isbn=0-8454-2108-5|page=46|author2=Chenrow, Carol}}</ref><ref name=":0" />