REVOLUTIONARY

BLACK ACTRESS
AND ICON

“My passion is to tell stories that

reflect humanity.”
-Pam Grier
 Table of Contents
“I am really blessed and very
1. Prologue
grateful for it.”
2. A Life of Ups and Downs

3. Stardom and Making History

-Pam Grier
4. Diverse Range

5. The 1990’s

6. Reinvention and Modern

Life

7. The Legacy of Pam Grier

When I was a child during the 1990's, I watched the film Coffy. I was thinking about who is this
gorgeous black woman fighting the drug trade, using self-defense, being confident, and standing
up for the poor, working-class people (especially black people)? This woman is Pam Grier. Pam
Grier worked hard to be one of the greats of acting. Her role wasn't just involved in action movies.
Pam Grier worked in dramas, thrillers, science fiction, and other forms of entertainment for over
five decades now. Actresses and actors readily love to outline versality in their work. Pam Grier
gave confidence to a new generation of young people after the 1960's. By the 1970's, fashion
changed, the culture of society changed, and oppressed people wanted to show out to display
their sense of creativity, individuality, and power. From the show Soul Train to new Presidents
arising, the 1970’s included dynamic realities. Gaining power legitimately has nothing to do with
mocking others. It's about having a fair representation and true influence on the culture to make
the world better. That is precisely why we can't be complacent about life. Life is a journey, and
while we are here, we must help people and fight for justice for all. Pam Grier was born in the
South in North Carolina, but she lives on the West Coast. You fall in love with the architecture
and the beautiful scenery of the West. I have been to the West Coast before and fell in love with
the West's culture. Also, Pam Grier represented what we want any human being to be: bold,
uncompromising, progressive, and having a sense of purpose to make sure that liberty for all is
made into a reality. Black women and Black men made great achievements in the world, and our
 glorious strength is always sacrosanct. With all that is going on in the world (with extremists
wanting to ban books about the icon Rosa Parks and sugarcoating black history in general), our
passion for wisdom remains firm. Pam Grier is the first modern-day black woman action star.
Pam Grier loves rural farm culture and has been active politically to stand up for human rights
in a forthright fashion. It's precisely time to give a comprehensive description of her life and
legacy.

Nat Love was a legendary black
American cowboy of the Old West. He
lived from 1854 to 1921. He worked as a
cowboy, rodeo performer, Pullman
Porter, and author. He loved to win
bronco riding contests. He wrote his
own autobiography and lived in Los
Angeles, California too.
Tons of people know about Bill Pickett
(1870-1932). For years, he was a
cowboy. Also, he was an expert rodeo
performer, and actor too. He loved his
wife, Maggie Turner and their nine
children. He invented the technique of
bulldogging (or wresting wrestling cattle
by the horns and wrestling them to the
ground).
Mary Fields or Stagecoach Mary was the
first black woman to be employed as a
star tour postwoman in the United
States of America. She had a shotgun for
protection. She operated a laundry
service from her home in Montana. The
community of Cascade, Montana loved
her.

The 1993 movie Posse was ahead of its time. It was

long before the Gang of Roses epic. Posse was about
black Americans fighting for surviving (in homesteads)
after being attacked by racist forces. Posse was a movie
that included legends of acting and music like Mario
Van Peebles, Woody Strobe, Kane, Tiny Lister, Tone
Loc, Salli Richardson, Blair Underwood, Stephen
Baldwin, Richard Gant, Billy Zane, Reginald
VelJohnson, Pam Grier, Nipsey Russell, Reginald
Hudlin, Warrington Hudlin, Isaac Hayes, Vesta, etc.
 A Life of Ups and Downs
Pam Grier was born on May 26, 1949, at Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Her parents are
Gwendolyn Sylvia Samuels (a homemaker and nurse) and Clarence Ransom Grier Jr. (a mechanic
and a technical sergeant of the United States Air Force). She has one sister and one brother. She
was raised Catholic and was later baptized as a Methodist. Grier said that she has African
American, Latino, Chinese, Filipino, and Cheyenne heritage. Her father had a long military
career, so the family moved around the world during her childhood. By the time she was 6 years
old, they lived in Swindon in South West England, United Kingdom. Her father worked on an
air force base. Grier was the only black families in town. Pam Grier said that she faced no massive
racism or segregation in the UK as compared to America. She said that, "They didn’t care that I
was black since they hadn’t been raised to hate blacks. Instead they’d been raised to hate
Germans... In the U.S., especially in the South, we were never able to get buses to stop for us, we
couldn’t eat in certain restaurants, couldn’t use certain bathrooms. Up until 1969, there were
department stores in which my father and I weren’t even allowed to try on clothing."

After two years in the UK, the family came back to the United States of America. They settled
in Denver, Colorado. Pam Grier spent part of her upbringing on her maternal grandparents'
sugar beet farm in rural Wyoming where their ancestors had homesteaded after fleeing west via
the Underground Railroad to escape slavery. Grier attended East High School in Denver and
appeared in many stage productions. She also participated in beauty contests to raise money for
college tuition at Metropolitan State College. In 1967, Pam Grier moved to Los Angeles,
California. She worked at the switchboard at American International Pictures (AIP). She is
believed to have been discovered by director Jack Hill, who cast her in his women-in-prison films
The Big Doll House (1971) and The Big Bird Cage (1972). Those two films were about prison in
prison life. Prison life is no game as we already realize. While under contract at AIP, she became
a staple of early 1970s blaxploitation movies, playing larger-than-life, bold, and assertive women.
 Stardom and Making History
Pam Grier never gave up on her dreams. She persisted to live her own life. Later, the movie Coffy
was released in 1973. Coffy changed the whole world. You can make the case that Pam Grier is
the first woman superhero crime fighter in modern American film. The film was written and
directed by Jack Hill. The movie of Coffy was about Pam Grier playing Coffy, who is a nurse who
seeks justice against drug dealers harming the black community (The character of Coffy wants
retribution against a heroin dealer responsible for her sister’s addiction). The movie starred many
people who are Pam Grier, Booker Bradshaw, Robert DoQui, William Elliott, Allan Arbus, Sid
Haig, Barry Cahill, Lee de Broux, and other human beings. Coffy was a hit and it had violence,
sexual themes, and a lesson about confronting injustice in communities. Pam Grier was the first
African American woman to headline an action film. This was part of the Blaxploitation movie
genre movement. In his review of Coffy, critic Roger Ebert praised the film for its believable
woman lead. During the 1970's, she played similar roles of a black woman fighting the
establishment and drug dealers in society with roles like Foxy Brown in 1974, Sheba, Baby (1975),
and Friday Foster (1975).
In a 2020 New Yorker interview, Pam Grier defends her movies from the 1970's as not
perpetrating stereotypes in these terms:

"...I keep telling them, Where do you think we get them from? Those aren't stereotypes. We
get them from reality. We'd like to address them and correct them, if possible. It's like, when
a woman takes off her earrings and her shoes, she's going to whoop your behind. So that's in
my movies, O.K? Certain cultures understand that. And other cultures think it's
exploitation: "We don't fight! We're conservative black people- we don't do that.!" The
h____ you don't. Black exploitation was labeled by two black advertising executives at
American International Pictures. That was the only way they could tell people it's black
jargon, black music, black culture. It wasn't negative, because it would stay in a movie
theater almost eight weeks, more than any other movie. Before I had done my movies, there
were maybe twenty blaxploitation movies, but they didn't call them blaxploitation because
they weren't so sexy."

Pam Grier made a great point about the double standards in the film industry by her own
following words: "Everyone else can do violence. You know, Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone,
they can all do shoot-em-ups. Arnold Schwarzenegger can kill 10 people in one minute, and they
don't call it "white exploitation." They win awards and get into all the magazines. But if black
people do it, suddenly it's different than if a white person does it. People respond differently
because people come from different places." By the 1970's, Pam Grier dated prominent and
famous men. She met basketball player Ferdinand Lewis (Lew) Alcindor before he became a
Muslim; soon after they began dating, he converted to Islam and changed his name to Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar. Abdul-Jabbar proposed to Grier but gave her an ultimatum to convert to Islam.
He said, "If you don't commit to me today, I'm getting married at 2 this afternoon. She's a
converted Muslim, and she's been prepared for me," adding, "once you become Muslim, you might
appreciate another wife." Grier declined, so he got married that day to another woman. Grier
met comedian Freddie Prinze while promoting her film Coffy in 1973. They began a relationship
and considered marriage. Prinze wanted her to have his baby, but she was reluctant due to his
history of depression and drug addiction. They remained in touch after she left him. She was one
of the last people Prinze spoke to before he died in 1977.
Grier met comedian Richard Pryor (the greatest comedian of all time) through her relationship
with Prinze, but they did not begin dating until they were both cast in Greased Lightning. She
helped Pryor learn to read and tried to help him with his drug addiction. After six months of
sobriety, he relapsed. In her memoir, Grier described how her sexual relationship with Pryor
caused cocaine to enter her system. Grier confronted Pryor about protecting her health, but he
refused to use a condom. Pryor married Deborah McGuire while dating Grier in 1977. Grier was
formerly romantically linked to Jimmie “Big Wheel" Wheeler, a famous boxing promoter, Soul
Train host Don Cornelius, and basketball player Wilt Chamberlain.

I think that the movie Friday Foster (released in 1975) is one of her
most underrated films. The reason is that the plot and story was a
transition from her earlier movies where she played a photographer who
uncovers a plot of corruption. She risks her life to try to fight for justice
(in standing up for the dignity of the black community) using wit, street
smarts, and an ally. The film has an all-star cast of Godfrey Cambridge,
Thalmus Rasulala, Ted Lange, Eartha Kitt, Scatman Crothers,
Rosalind Miles, Carl Weathers, and Yaphet Kotto.
 Diverse Range
By the end of the 1970's, the game has changed. Blaxploitation films started to end, sci-fi films
increased in power (i.e. Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Blade Runner, etc.), and the country
was changing politically plus socially. We know that Ronald Reagan was inaugurated President
on January 20, 1981, so the conservative movement was at its zenith in American society. Pam
Grier wanted to play more diverse roles. So, he played a prostitute in Fort Apache, The Bronx
(1981) and a witch in Something Wicked this Way Comes (1983). In 1985, Grier made her
theatrical debut in Sam Sheppard's Fool for Love at the Los Angeles Theatre Center. Grier
returned to film as Steven Seagal's detective partner in Above the Law (1988). She had a recurring
role in Miami Vice from 1985 to 1989. She had a recurring role in the TV series Crime Story
between 1986 and 1988. Grier was diagnosed with stage-four cervical cancer in 1988 and was told
she had 18 months to live. Through vigorous treatment, she made a recovery and has been in
remission. That was certainly excellent news.
 The 1990's
By the 1990's, Pam Grier continued to work hard in the craft of acting. She made guest
appearances on Martin, Night Court, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. She was on Sinbad,
Preston Chronicles, The Cosby Show, The Wayans Brothers Show, and Mad TV. By 1994, Pam
Grier appeared in Snoop Dogg's video for "Doggy Dogg World." By 1993, she was part of the
movie Posse playing Phebe. Posse is an underrated movie about the African American experience
in the 19th-century West. Back then, many black Americans were soldiers, cowboys, and formed
their own towns after leaving the South. There were the black American Exodusters in Kansas.
In real life, Grier's ancestors lived in Wyoming. By 1996, she starred as Laurie Thompson in
Original Gangstas. The film is about a story of heroes fighting back against criminals in Gary,
Indiana. Gary, Indiana is a Midwestern city known for to be the original home of the Jackson
Family, factories, and other cultural institutions.

By the late 1990's Pam Grier was cast of a member of the Showtime series called Linc's. The show
lasted form August 1998 to February 2000. It also starred Steven Williams, Golden Brooks, Joe
Inscoe, Georg Stanford Brown, Tisha Campbell, Daphne Maxwell Reid, etc. The Linc’s show is
about a bar set in Washington, D.C. where social and political issues are discussed in an adult
fashion. Tim Reid and Susan Fales-Hill were executive producers of the show. She was in the
1996 movie of John Carpenter's Escape from L.A. By the 1990's, there was nostalgia for the 1970's.
I remembered in the 1990's when I watched tons of 70's films, especially blaxploitation movies.
Therefore, Pam Grier was in the film Jackie Brown (directed by the controversial Quentin
Tarantino). Jackie Brown played homage to Pam Grier's blaxploitation movies. Jackie Brown was
about Jackie Brown (played by Pam Grier) who acts as a courier, but she wants to have a change
of heart to go legit by the end of the movie. She was nominated for numerous awards for her
work in the Tarantino-directed film. Pam Grier continues to inspire audiences worldwide with
her acting, charisma, and activism in society. In 1998, Grier was engaged to RCA Records
executive Kevin Evans, but the engagement ended in 1999. One of her prominent roles was
playing Detective Angela Wilson in the film In Too Deep. In Too Deep is a film about an
undercover officer (played by Omar Epps) trying to take down a vicious drug dealer (played by
LL Cool J). The undercover officer finds love with a supportive, progressive black woman (played
by Nia Long).

Pam Grier, for years and decades
have always fought for HIV/AIDS
activism and compassion. In our
community (i.e. black community)
and other communities, HIV/AIDS
have caused much suffering and
death. The good news is that we
have more knowledge about the
disease now than back in the
early 1980’s. The source of the
picture is from Elizabeth
Conley/Houston Chronicle. Pam
Grier here was at the Hilton Post
Oak on Tuesday for the 2015
World AIDS Day Luncheon (in
Houston, Texas).
Colorado is home to Pam Grier.
She loves her large Colorado
ranch where she loves animals,
save the lives of horses, and
enjoys her independence. Her
ancestors were found in the
Mountain West. Pam Grier
describes herself as a country
woman. The rural environment
readily helps people with
building character, learning
Nature in an intimate level, and
stirring up human creativity in
benefiting the soul plus the
spirit.
The image above is from the
date of Aug. 25, 2017, actress
Pam Grier is interviewed by
The Associated Press in
Washington. The source of this
photo is: (AP Photo/Jacquelyn
Martin). Pam Grier is an activist
too. She knows what time it is,
and with the current events, we
must be vigilant to defend the
rights of black people, women,
and everybody under the sun.
Source: March 4, 2011, from
Connor/Getty Images North America
Kris
Pam Grier, in this picture, posed
for a photo after receiving an
honorary doctorate during a
private ceremony before the
HBCU’s University of Maryland
Eastern Shore's Gala on March 5,
2011, in Princess Anne, Maryland.
I visited the Eastern Shore of
Maryland before. It has a great
culture and great scenery. Many
of my distant cousins live in the
region too.
 Reinvention and Modern Life
By the 21st century, Pam Grier has worked hard in acting from television shows to movies. She
finished playing Elanor Winthrop on Linc's by the year 2000. She was on shows like Night
Visions, Justice League in 2002 as My'ria'h, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, and Lady of
the House. She was on the show The L Word as Kit Porter for 70 episodes from 2004 to 2009.
Later, she played Amanda Waller on Smallville in 2010. Also, Pam Grier worked on This is Us as
a grandmother. In 2022, she played Neckbone in the animated series of The Great North. She was
in films like 3 A.M. and the famous film of Bones. Bones is a thriller with Snoop Dogg having a
role too. Back in the Day was a serious film in 2005 where she played Mrs. Cooper (the film also
starred Ja Rule and Ving Rhames). This movie had her acting as a mother trying to keep her
family away from the street life of crime and social destruction. Pam Grier was Detective Barrick
in the 2012 movie called Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day. The 2019 film Poms featured
her as the character of Olive. In 2010, Grier wrote her memoir, Foxy: My Life in Three Acts, with
Andrea Cagan. Grier received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of
Maryland Eastern Shore in 2011. That same year, she received an honorary Doctorate of Science
from Langston University. According to Essence magazine, in Grier's career, "[s]o revolutionary
were the characters Grier played that women reportedly would stand on chairs and cheer." She
founded the Pam Grier Community Garden and Education Center with the National
Multicultural Western Heritage Museum. The purpose is to teach people about organic
gardening, health, and nutrition among other things. With the growth of our knowledge of
health, it is certainly customary for us to get our health in order. Dozens of scientific studies
prove that walking, exercise (with cardio and strength building exercise), getting adequate sleep
(from 7-9 hours a night), reducing stress, eating healthy foods (like fruits, vegetables, moderate
 intake of meat if you desire, etc.) will cause a longer life longevity (with a reduced chance of
experiencing diseases and cancers). The truth is among us. The museum named its first garden
in honor of Grier in 2011. In January 2018, Grier revealed a biopic based on her memoir in the
works, entitled Pam. In April 2022, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) announced the fourth season
of their podcast, The Plot Thickens, would focus on Grier's life and career. I saw on special on
TCM showing movies that she starred in as well. So, Pam Grier has been creating tons of
accomplishments and institutions for decades.

Viola Davis Angela Bassett Danai Gurira Naomie Harris Teyonah Parris

A Thousand and One is a passionate, emotional film

about a black mother (played by Teyana Taylor) risking
her life to take care of her son. Black motherhood (which
is glorious) is a large part of our history, and black
motherhood has been downplayed readily and
historically by mainstream society. Yet, we don’t need
any validation from mainstream society. We have
validation by us being born on this Earth, by our souls,
and by our actions in helping one another. The story is
based in New York City. We know Teyana Taylor as
being a professional singer, dancer, and model. She is a
person who want to expand her range in acting and to
be taken seriously. As a mother and wife, Teyana Taylor
is part of the new generation of human beings putting
their stamps on their own legacies as creative people. In
the near future, Teyana Taylor will star as Dionne
Warwick in a biopic. She wants to direct music videos
and films too.
 A LIST OF DIVERSE, PROMINENT WOMEN (IN
CELEBRATING WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH)

The voices, intellect, and power of women should always be cherished. These are some of
the tons of women worldwide who used their gifts to bless the world in so many ways.

EXPLORERS LITERATURE

Amelia Bessie Coleman Mae C.

Earhart Jemison Maya Angelou Virginia Woolf Toni Morrison

SPORTS & ATHLETICS THEOLOGIANS

Dr. Joanne Rev. Dr. Mercy Amba

Althea Jackie Joyner A’ja Wilson Marie Terrell Jacquelyn E. Oduyoye
Gibson Kersee Winston

MUSICIANS ACTRESSES

Aretha Chaka Salt-n-Pepa Regina King Cicely Tyson Issa Rae

Franklin Khan

BUSINESS LEADERS DOCTORS

Madam C. J. Cathy Oprah Rebecca Lee Antonia C. Dr. Marilyn

Walker Hughes Winfrey Crumpler Novello Hughes
Gaston
ACTIVISTS POLITICAL LEADERS

Michelle Fannie Fannie Lou Rep. Jasmine Shirley Jennifer

Alexander Barrier Hamer Crockett Chisholm Carroll Roy
Williams
The LSU Tigers won the 2023 Women's NCAA
Basketball Championship. It was a game of the ages.
LSU vs. Iowa was one of the greatest basketball
games that I have witnessed in my life. LSU been
through ups and downs throughout the game, but
they won the game by adjustments, talent, and will
plus determination. At the end of the day, LSU
dominated Iowa causing LSU to win its first NCAA
title ever in basketball. The score was 102-85, being
the first Women's collegiate basketball team to get
over 100 points in the Championship game. Jasmine
Carson, Alexis Morris, Angel Reese, and other
players from LSU played outstanding. Both teams
scored 50 percent or higher in the shooting
percentage. Iowa's Caitlin Clark scored many threes.
The coach of LSU, Kim Mulkey, won her 4th
championship, being the 3rd greatest winning coach
involving a title in NCAA women's basketball history.
Therefore, the LSU Tigers deserve their
Championship ring.

“All Year, I was critiqued about who

I was. I’m too hood, I’m too ghetto,
Y’all told me that all year. When
other people do it, y’all don’t say
nothing. This was for the girls that
look like me.”

-Angel Reese
 "Our culture is revered and it inspires people all around the globe."

"And I as I reinvent myself and I’m constantly curious about everything, I can’t
wait to see what’s around the corner in newfound art and entertainment and
exploration."

-Pam Grier

The Legacy of Pam Grier

Pam Grier changed society in many ways. To this very day, she is very humble about her
experiences and contributions to movies and television shows. She has been through the storm
in her life early on (she experienced sexual assault and later survived cervical cancer back in the
1980's). Yet, Pam Grier survived the storm to be an inspiration to human beings, especially to
black women to see that they can achieve greatness through their own power. Black women are
the mothers of the human race and honoring them means to honor ourselves as human beings.
The independent power of Pam Grier developed into a huge legacy involving our society in
general. She helped to shape cinema, feminism, and gave new insights into the lives of black
women, including women in general. She has shown the image of black women to be powerful,
diverse, and willing to stand up against injustice. You will notice that the films like Coffy, Foxy
Brown, Sheba Baby, and Friday Foster were about a woman (and other people) working together
to confront evils in our community like drug addiction, the War on Drugs, police corruption,
Mafia criminal actions, and abuse of fellow human beings. Pam Grier was one of the first modern
black woman superheroes in the movie industry.

After the 1970's, all modern day women action stars

of every color (Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Zoe
Saldana, Uma Thurman, Jennifer Lawrence, Michelle
Yeoh, Carrie-Anne Moss, Uma Thurman, Milla
Jovovich, Zazie Beetz, Taraji P. Henson, Jada Pinkett
Smith, Queen Latifah, Halle Berry, Michelle
Queen Latifah in the Taraji P. Henson
Rodriguez, Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu, Gal Gadot,
CBS show of the starred in the 2018
Lashana Lynch, etc.) owe a debt of gratitude to Pam Equalizer plays film of Proud Mary.
Grier and her sacrifice to make complex images of Robyn McCall on a This film is about an
mission to solve assassin who helps a
black women grow. Pam Grier has an American story.
crimes using many teenaged boy, and
She was born in the South in Winston Salem, North tactics while she seeks to live a
Carolina, many of her relatives lived in the Mountain providing for her normal life with
family. tranquility.
West over in Wyoming, and she always worked hard
to achieve her goals. To this day, she has her own
ranch which is an homage to the work ethic of her ancestors. Life is about experiencing a journey
and hopefully the future will be better than the past and present. Our past is set in stone, the
present is constantly manifesting, and the future is our responsibilities to cultivate in a just
fashion. Pam Grier’s future legacy is set in stone as a trailblazer who expressed her gift without
concessions. From Turner Movie Classics having a podcast about her inspirational life to tons of
musicians, intellectuals, and everyday fans being influenced by her, Pam Grier made an
undeniable mark in black culture and world culture as a whole. At the end of the day, everything
comes down to the Golden Rule. Treating people with respect, standing up for yourself, fighting
for what is right, promoting truth, and defending justice will cause blessings in all of our lives. It
is what it is. Pam Grier is a gorgeous black woman (inside and out) who has been an icon in our
lives indeed.

By Timothy