Even at the height of his fame as a groundbreaking musician, Harry Belafonte was only interested in the money or the celebrity insofar as it could fuel his campaigns for social justice.
As the US civil rights movement gained momentum, Belafonte took on a role that went far beyond moral support. He became a confidant of Martin Luther King Jr. and personally opened his wallet to fund the cause.
“I could have made $2 billion or $3 billion — and ended up with some very cruel addiction — but I chose to be a civil rights warrior instead,” the trailblazing singer and actor said in a 2007 interview.
Belafonte, who died of congestive heart failure on Tuesday at the age of 96, soared to the highest heights of showbiz — the African American artist won an array of awards for his performances, introducing Caribbean flair to mainstream US music.
But he is also remembered for his deep personal investment in civil rights — from the American struggle for racial equality to famine in Ethiopia to South Africa’s battle against apartheid.
“When people think of activism, they always think some sacrifice is involved, but I’ve always considered it a privilege and an opportunity,” he said in a 2004 speech at Emory University.
– Life of struggle –
Born in Harlem on March 1, 1927 to a Jamaican mother and a father from the French territory of Martinique, Belafonte spent part of his childhood in Jamaica before returning to New York, a binational upbringing that shaped his musical and political outlooks.
Despite his vocal gifts and striking good looks, Belafonte did not grow up believing he would enjoy a promising career.
He suffered dyslexia and dropped out of high school to serve as a US Navy munitions loader in World War II. When he returned, he had few employable skills and worked as a janitor.
But he showed gusto at the job and, as a tip, was given two tickets to a performance at the American Negro Theater, where he was mesmerized by the magnetic pull of the stage.
He took acting classes and, at the theater in Harlem, made a lifelong friend who became another groundbreaking African American actor: Sidney Poitier, who was born just eight days before Belafonte to parents from The Bahamas.
Belafonte said that his own Jamaican roots shaped “almost everything” in his life.
His mother came from Jamaica “to find the generosity of the American dream and discovered that that was not available to her,” he told public television.
– Early fame… and controversy –
Belafonte’s calypso, the genre of Caribbean music that drew from West African and French influences, offered a dash of exoticism for a United States in the midst of post-World War II prosperity and suburbanization.
His third album, entitled simply “Calypso” and released in 1956, became the first LP to sell more than one million copies in the United States.
The album featured what became Belafonte’s signature song, “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song).” Based on a Jamaican folk tune,…
