The corner of St. Nicholas Avenue and 123rd Street will now bear the names of Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee.

Cliff Frazier, president of the Dwyer Cultural center and friend of the late couple, wanted to honor their legacy.

"Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee are absolutely phenomenal people. They did so much to help people," said Frazier.

Davis, an actor, and Dee, an actress, met back in 1946 while co-starring in the Broadway play Jeb.

After the couple wed, they became known as much for their work on screen as they did off. Davis and Dee were well-known civil rights activists.

"They did as much as they could to benefit the world and especially to benefit people of color," said Frazier.

Civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X befriended the couple.

Davis and Dee used their celebrity to help change the face of those working behind the scenes in the television and film industry. In the '70s, the couple joined forces with Fraizer to start job training programs in communities like Harlem.

"The landscape of media changed because of that program," said Minerva Diaz, executive director at the Dwyer Cultural Center.

Grant Harper Reid was among of the first students to go through one of their programs.

"It opened up a whole new enterprise, you know, for black people to move into the industry. Still, we have a long way to go, but it was a beginning," said Reid.

Davis and Dee's children say the location of the honor is perfect. The corner is up the block from the Dwyer Cultural Center. Over the years, their parents spent time there, working to fight the injustices in their industry and even have a performance space named after them.

"It was very important for mom and dad to bring up and provide a platform for African-American artists, especially those who work behind the camera, behind the scenes, and for this to be happening here now, it is extra special," said Hasna Muhammad, one of the couple's daughters.