Hi there,

The job of a journalist is to go to where the silence is — especially when those in power seek to silence voices that question or challenge power. That is what we do at Democracy Now! day in and day out, and we're able to do it because of financial support from people like you — people who trust and depend on our independent reporting. If you believe that freedom of speech and freedom of the press are essential to the functioning of a democratic society, please donate today. Every dollar makes a difference. Thank you so much.

Democracy Now!
Amy Goodman

Non-commercial news needs your support.

We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution.

Please do your part today.

Donate

Harry Belafonte, Pioneering Singer and Civil Rights Activist, Dies at Age 96

HeadlineApr 26, 2023

Harry Belafonte, pioneering activist, singer and actor, has died at the age of 96. Harry Belafonte was born in Harlem to Jamaican immigrant parents. He is credited with popularizing Caribbean music in the U.S. with his chart-topping 1956 album “Calypso,” which included the hits “Jump in the Line,” “Jamaica Farewell” and “Day-O.” His musical success led to multiple acting offers, and he went on to star in dozens of films and TV shows.

But his driving force was activism, and he leveraged his successful entertainment career to shine a spotlight on civil rights and to fund movements like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He participated in the 1963 March on Washington. Belafonte famously said, “I was an activist who became an artist, I was not an artist who became an activist.” After headlines, we’ll air clips of the legendary Harry Belafonte for the rest of the hour.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top