NAACP Image Awards, Academy Awards, Grammy’s are nothing new to the actor/activists Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. But for the first time ever, the dynamic duo win my Valiant Valentine Award. Valentine’s Day Week, kicked off my Valentine’s week-long series on the 5 coolest activist couples. I honored activist & actor Susan Sarandon and her partner, activist, actor & director Tim Robbins with a VVA, that’s a Valiant Valentine Award, for those of you just tuning in. Now I’m awarding another VVA to a couple who have shown their love for each other and for civil rights, human rights, and peace. And the award goes to…

Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee were not only award-winning and distinguished actors, but social change-winning and distinguished civil rights activists. The couple, married for 56 years, won NAACP Image Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and was honored by the Kennedy Center, not only for their roles on stage and screen, but for their roles as trailblazers who opened the door for so many black actors who came after them.

The couple starred in Roots, produced a PBS special on Martin Luther King, acted in Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives. They produced and Davis directed Countdown to Kusini, the first American feature to be shot entirely in Africa by black professionals. Their actions were not limited to the world of acting, and despite being blacklisted they never stopped working for social, racial, and economic justice and peace.

Even in into their 80’s they were committed activists who, as seen in this photo, were willing to get arrested to protest police brutality. Ossie delivered the eulogies for Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, and he recorded the eulogy in Spike Lee’s film Malcolm X. Ossie and Ruby starred in several Spike Lee movies, including Lee’s groundbreaking film Do The Right Thing. As if directing, acting, and playwriting didn’t keep them busy enough, they also wrote books. Ossie wrote three children’s books on Martin Luther King, Langston Hughes, and Frederick Douglass. This year Ruby is up for an Oscar for her performance as Denzel Washington’s mother in American Gangster. And on Valentine’s Day Ruby received the NAACP Image Awards’ prestigious Chairman’s Award.

Together, they wrote With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together a joint autobiography they published to celebrate their 50-year anniversary. Ossie died at the age of 87 and fellow activist and actor Harry Belafonte read his eulogy at Ossie’s funeral 2005. Ossie’s last role was on the L Word, where he played Bette Porter’s (Jennifer Beals) father, who struggled with his daughter’s homosexuality. Up until his last role, Ossie chose to use his acting to raise awareness and tolerance. You can honor Ossie’s memory and celebrate the couple’s love for each other and for the world. So Do The Right Thing! to stop the genocide in Darfur, a cause to which Ossie was dedicated. And keep your fingers crossed for Ruby Dee on Oscar Night.