The world lost a giant when Sir Sidney Poitier died on Jan. 6 at age 94. Poitier was the first of many: first Black man to win an Oscar, in 1964; first Black man to win an international film award, in 1957; first Black romantic lead in a major motion picture, with 1961s Paris Blues.

He was the first to blaze the trail that would light up a path for other Black folks in Hollywood to be able to work in the industry and do it with dignity. His activism wasnt solely in how he represented Black people but also in how he showed up continuously to fight during the civil rights movement.

Its been an enormous responsibility, Poitier told Oprah Winfrey of his lifes achievements in a 2000 interview. And I accepted it, and I lived in a way that showed how I respected that responsibility. I had to. In order for others to come behind me, there were certain things I had to do.

HuffPost asked several Black Hollywood stars to discuss the weight that Poitiers legacy holds for them personally. From Love Life Season 2s William Jackson Harper to acting veteran and current series regular on The Equalizer Lorraine Toussaint to newcomer and Jingle Jangle star Madalen Mills, the influence Poitier had on these power players is evidence that the power of his legacy will stay with us for generations to come. They are because of who he was.

Lorraine Toussaint (The Equalizer): From the moment Sidney arrived on the scene, the world knew there was something different about this man, something you couldnt quite put your finger on. His legendary elegance, regal presence and measured cadence was a marvel to Americans both Black and white, and though we only met a handful of times and I dare not refer to him as a friend, I have always felt a quiet soulful kinship with him.

Like me at age 10, we landed on these distant shores with a naivety and an innocence that most people could not conceive of. Sidney recalls seeing an automobile and glass-paned windows for the first time. For me it was snow, and trains, and bars on the windows. With our thick Caribbean accents, navigating this new world was difficult. Two decades apart, we were displaced tropical birds avoiding capture in the ghettos of Miami and Brownsville.

Then something miraculous happened. We found acting. No, acting found us. For Sidney it came in the form of an actors wanted ad in The Amsterdam News, for me it was an ad in the Yellow Pages. In those early days, neither of us knew a thing about acting but possessed an iron will forged from our Caribbean upbringing that knew we could be, and do, whatever we set our minds to. With the help of angels and a generous sprinkling of divine intervention, we slipped behind the curtain and down the rabbit hole into a realm where all the adversity previously endured perfectly prepared us to be actors. Sidney once said, All that I feel about life, I had to find a way in my work to be faithful to it, to be respectful of it. That is a truism by which I have lived. Sidney Poitier was one of the greatest actors of our time as well as a fierce social activist, courageous visionary, compassionate ambassador, loving husband and father. He was a giant among men, on whose shoulders I now stand. I will forever hold dear the blessing of Sidney and Me.

William Jackson Harper (Love Life, The Good Place): Beyond breaking barriers, hes one of the first people that showed me they could be broken. I took his presence in movies as a given when I was younger. It didnt hit me until much later that he was doing this in the midst of open racial animosity. But it says something that I think about his artistry first and the context of when he was doing it second. You have to be some kind of genius to overshadow the bullshit of an entire society with your art.