Lynn Hamilton was a pioneer for Black actor's whose Hollywood career spanned 50 years

Lynn Hamilton was a pioneer as a Black actress

Actress Lynn Hamilton, has passed away at age 95. She was best known to television audiences for her roles as Donna Harris inthe NBC sitcom “Sanford and Son” and Verdie Foster on the CBS drama “The Waltons,” She also portrayed Vivian Porter in the NBC soap opera Generations.

A representative for the late actor, Calvin Carson, shared the news of her death in a joint statement posted on Facebook. He said Hamilton died on Thursday, June 19, “surrounded by her grandchildren, loved ones and caregivers.”

Hamilton was a pioneer as a Black actress and worked steadily. She also had roles in television sows liek Moesha, The Practice and Legal Eagles. She was also in the television movie The Jesse Owens Story and the film Lady Sings the Blues. She was ub the soap opera Port Charles .

Hamilton's Gunsmoke role resignates with me today

Hamilton's role in the Gunsmoke episode The Sisters which aired on December 29, 1969 had a profoudn effect on me. I was in the sixth grade and it was my first year attending an integrated school. Hamilton, along with Gloria Calomee and Susan Batson portrayed three nuns.

They were being held hostage by Jack Elam's character Pack Anderson who threatend to shoot them by saying "Three black crows, ain't gonna have no nose." I knew immediately that I was going to hear that phrase when I went to school the next day from a white student.

I was never personally targeted with racism but one day a white student whose nickname was Junior acted outwhen the teacher was out of the room by saying "All the ni**ers in the room stand up". He and two or three of his friends stood up and laughed. he did this several times and no one clled him out on it.

Traumatized by the Gunsmoke episode

A few of the girls said among themselves that what he did was wrong. I was a shy skinny girl and my cousin the onyl other Black students was absent. I was the only African American in the class and was too humilated to say anthing.

When the class role a bus to the Planatorium in North Carolina Junior looked out the window at some African Americans walking across the street and yelled "Look at the Jiggaboos and Jungle Bunnies. My cousin and I looked at each other but said nothing. Today we are both outspoken but at eleven we were stunned into silence.

Lynn Hamilton's Gunsmoke role resignats today

Ironically, the following year in seventh grade in Junior High School, Junior became friends with a black guy named Melvin and they walked the halls together and ate lunch together the entire year. Junior did nto return to school in teh eighth grade so I assume his family moved.

My grandmother and one of my brothers would occasionally say " Three black crows ain't gonna have no nose and we all laughed. It was different, however, when the phrase felt racist. I had not thought of Hamilton's Gunsmoke role in decades. Today, it came back with clarity as if it happened yesterday.

Donna and Lamont's aunts

One of Hamilton's funniest roles is when her character Donna is engaged to Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx). Donna met with Lamont Sanford's (Demon Wilson) aunts (his mother Elizabeth's three sisters. They forced her into the kitchen where they began interrogating her.

Donna called them three witches and when Fred was told he agreed. Aunt Esther (Lawada Page) shouted "Her behind is mine" as she tried to fight Donna and Lamont laughed so hard he spit out his drink.

A career that spanned six decades

Hamilton's 50-year career began in community theater, and she later appeared on Broadway. Her first major role was in 1958 in the independent film Shadows. Her final role was in the 2003 documentary Beah: A Black Wiman Speaks.

The actress was born Alzenia Lynn Hamilton on April 25, 1930, in Yahoo City, Mississippi. She was married to Frank Jenkins from 1964 until he died in 2014. They had one child.