Harry Belafonte鈥檚 Legacy of Social Change

The late singer, actor, and activist leveraged his stardom in service of justice in the civil rights era and beyond.

4 MIN READ

Apr 26, 2023

In May 1963, as , Harry Belafonte was at a cocktail party in Manhattan, scolding the then-attorney general of the United States.

鈥淵ou may think you鈥檙e doing enough,鈥� he recalled telling , 鈥渂ut you don鈥檛 live with us, you don鈥檛 even visit our pain.鈥�

Belafonte had many frank and heated conversations with Kennedy. In fact, the singer, actor, and activist was on intimate terms with many pivotal figures of the civil rights era.

He was a confidant and adviser to ., and allied with , the president of Guinea. He funded the grassroots activists of the (SNCC) as it battled Jim Crow, and he brought a delegation of Hollywood stars to the . Along with his best friend and sometimes-rival, actor Sidney Poitier, Belafonte delivered funds to civil rights volunteers in Greenwood, Mississippi, while .

Belafonte, who , was a unique figure in the history of the Black freedom struggle in the U.S. No other entertainer immersed themselves so deeply in the Civil Rights Movement; no other activist occupied a niche at so many levels of American politics. If he was a powerful voice for justice, it was because he leveraged his celebrity.

A Remarkable Career

On stage, Belafonte was something to behold, a beacon of charisma. Clad in body-hugging shirts with his chest bare, drawing his audience鈥檚 eyes to the looping metal rings at the belt of his tight silk pants, he oozed with seduction. Women swooned.

And he was wildly successful. In 1957, Belafonte sold more records than Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. His repertoire resembled neither Sinatra鈥檚 classic pop nor Presley鈥檚 up-and-coming rock 鈥榥鈥� roll.

The son of West Indian/Carribean immigrants, Belafonte inspired a short-lived craze for calypso music thanks to hits such as 鈥溾€� and 鈥�,鈥� and he adapted ethnic folk music for popular consumption 鈥� his mainstays included 鈥�,鈥� the Jewish celebration song.

He also starred in Hollywood films such as 鈥溾€� (1953) and 鈥溾€� (1954). 鈥�,鈥� released in 1957, caused a furor. Though Belafonte never kisses his white co-star, Joan Fontaine, on-screen, the film explores the theme of interracial romance. The Southern censors banned it.

Belafonte danced around the taboos of race and sex. This exceptionally handsome Black man was charming primarily white audiences, though his light skin color and facial features softened that threat. As a performer, he nudged at racial boundaries without jabbing through them.

鈥淗arry Belafonte stands at the peak of one of the remarkable careers in U.S. entertainment,鈥� proclaimed . He had come a long way from a childhood split between Harlem and Jamaica, from stints in the Navy and as a struggling actor. By then, he was earning about $750,000 per year, with a lucrative residency at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas.

Civil Rights Activism

That stardom connected Belafonte to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The civil rights leader called him in 1956 during the . Soon Belafonte was part of the movement itself. Following King, he embraced nonviolence. As their friendship strengthened, Belafonte realized the crosses that King bore: the burden of leadership, the fear of death.

Belafonte bought a 21-room apartment on West End Avenue in Manhattan. 鈥淢artin would come to think of it as his home away from home, staying with us on many of his New York trips,鈥� he recalled in his memoir, .

鈥淥n occasion, he brought with him two or three of his closest advisers, and by the mid-1960s, the apartment was one of the movement鈥檚 headquarters.鈥� It was a place to both plan strategy and blow off steam, laughing at stories and sipping Harveys Bristol Cream.

Ironically, for such a public figure, much of Belafonte鈥檚 work was in private.

In the 1960s, he served as an essential link between King and the SNCC. He not only bankrolled the young militant activists, but also listened to their concerns, respected their organizing efforts, and communicated their perspectives to influential power brokers.

That responsibility to speak for the movement led Belafonte to chide Bobby Kennedy in May 1963. Throughout the early 1960s, he expressed frustration with the attorney general鈥檚 detachment from the activists鈥� struggle. But over time, Belafonte came to appreciate Kennedy鈥檚 evolution as he became a U.S. senator and emerged as a voice for the poor, for racial minorities, and for 鈥淭he Other America.鈥�

Famously, in February 1968, , using his platform to illuminate Black perspectives and spotlight social injustices. His guests included King, who was about to launch his Poor People鈥檚 Campaign, and Kennedy, whom Belafonte urged to start a presidential campaign.

Within months, both men were assassinated.

For more than a half-century, Belafonte carried on the legacy of the 1960s, often taking from the far-left edge of the political spectrum. Like few others, he blended the worlds of culture and politics, singing a song of justice.

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Aram Goudsouzian is the Bizot Family Professor of History at the University of Memphis, where he teaches courses on modern American history, with a particular focus on race, politics, and culture. His most recent book is "The Men and the Moment: The Election of 1968 and the Rise of Partisan Politics in America" (University of North Carolina Press, 2019). He has written articles in journals such as The Journal of American Studies, Study the South, Journal of the Historical Society, and American Studies. He is a regular contributor to Chapter 16, the online book review journal of Humanities Tennessee, and a frequent book reviewer for the Washington Post. He earned his PhD from Purdue University and his BA from Colby College.