Meet Nora Day and Hasna Muhammad the daughters of screen, stage legend Ruby Dee and second husband, actor Ossie Davis. We are saddened to hear the news of their iconic mother’s death. They also have one brother, world renowned blues artist and musician Guy Davis.
Their mom was previously married to Frankie Dee Brown, a midget, on August 31, 1941 in the Mother Zion AME Church by Reverend Benjamin Robeson.
The Davis family’s children are all accomplished outside of their parent’s celebrity. Nora the first born has always been a working partner to her parents as a business, technical and creative backbone to the family enterprise.
While Dr. Hasna (nee LaVerne) Davis Muhammad is an seasoned district school administrator, author and public speaker.
Their parents were well-known civil rights activists, they wrote an autobiography in which they discussed their political activism and their open marriage. In 2005 their breast cancer survivor mom and close friend of both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, along with her late husband –were awarded the Lifetime Achievement Freedom Award. Their father died at age 87 in early 2005.
Nora is a consulting producer, she is the President & CEO of Dee Davis Enterprises and Emmalyn II Productions Inc. Emmy Award winner and Executive Producer for Grammy Award winning audiobook “With Ossie and Ruby: In this Life Together”. Associate Produced three seasons of “With Ossie & Ruby” on PBS.
Nora who is also described as an independent educator, is married to Bill Day, an art director and graphics artist.
Dr. Hasna married gifted and professional musician and attorney, Abdul Wali Muhammad who grew up in the Davis’ hometown of New Rochelle, NY. The couple have three adult children, including son Muta Ali Muhammad who is a director/film maker based in Atlanta.
Dr. Hasna Muhammad has also been the Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources in the Poughkeepsie City School District. She has been an Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Personnel in Westchester County, a high school principal and middle school assistant principal in Orange County, a Dean of Students in Nassau County, and she started her career in education as a 7th grade English teacher in Westchester, where she was born and raised. Dr. Muhammad received her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and completed her Masters Degree and Doctorate at Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Muhammad is actively engaged in organization and leadership initiatives, curriculum and instruction, and professional development for teachers and administrators. She gives workshops on multicultural literacy, diversity management, educational renewal, as well as writing. Dr. Muhammad has been a member of the Teachers College Alumni Council, and she is the chair person of the Greater Hudson Valley Advisory Council of Today’s Student’s, Tomorrow’s Teachers, a non-profit organization dedicated to “growing” a diverse teaching and educational administration force.
She currently lives in Putnam County with her husband.
Nora Davis Day told The Associated Press on Thursday that her mother died at home in New Rochelle on Wednesday night of “natural causes.”
She is survived by three children: Nora, Hasna and Guy, and seven grandchildren.
Our condolences to both remarkable sisters and the rest of their family.
