Harry Belafonte, Singer and Civil Rights Activist, Dead at 96

Harry Belafonte, the groundbreaking singer, actor, and civil rights activist, died on Tuesday, his spokesperson said. He was 96.

Ken Sunshine said Belafonte passed away at his home in Manhattan’s Upper West Side from congestive heart failure, according to The New York Times.

Belafonte’s life was characterized by his extraordinary achievements both as an artist and an indefatigable campaigner for a range of political causes. As a singer, Belafonte won multiple Grammy Awards and scored hits with “The Banana Boat Song (Day-O)” and “Jump in the Line.” He also starred in several movies, among them Island in the Sun, alongside James Mason.

Harry Belafonte: Black Artists Must Do More

But arguably his most important work came in his advocacy. During the 1950s and 1960s, Belafonte was a significant figure in the civil rights movement, using his wealth to support multiple initiatives for change. Abroad, Belafonte also campaigned against apartheid and famine in Africa, and lent his support to left-wing politicians around the world.

Born in Harlem in 1927, Belafonte spent eight years of his early life living with his parents in their native Jamaica. He returned to the U.S. for high school and later joined the Navy, serving during World War II. When the war ended, he fell in love with drama after watching productions at New York’s American Negro Theater and resolved to become an actor himself.

Belafonte funded his acting lessons—which he took alongside the likes of Walter Matthau and Marlon Brando—by singing in clubs around the city. He released his first record in 1954, but it was his second, Belafonte, which gave him his first No. 1 on the Billboard album chart two years later.

His third album, Calypso, is credited with popularizing the calypso musical style internationally and was believed to be the first album in American history to sell more than 1 million copies.

Alongside the runaway success of his musical career, Belafonte became the first Black man to achieve substantial success in starring roles as a Hollywood actor. He scooped a Tony Award in 1954 for his part in the musical revue show John Murray Anderson’s Almanac and starred in a string of movies. Belafonte’s first film role was in the 1953 movie Bright Road alongside Dorothy Dandridge—with whom he would also make Carmen Jones the following year. The pair would have starred together again in the 1959 musical drama Porgy and Bess, but he declined the role of Porgy because he considered it “racially demeaning.” He continued to star periodically in films into the 21st century, including in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman in 2018.

Belafonte’s artistic work allowed him to pursue racial justice in America. He called Martin Luther King Jr. a mentor after meeting him early in his career and used his money to support civil rights organizations, including the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the 1960s. It was also Belafonte who bailed Dr. King out of jail in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963—the same year he helped to organize the March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.

Belafonte’s activist spirit never wavered, and he continued to agitate for several political causes throughout his life. As well as opposing apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s, Belafonte helped to organize the Ethiopian famine relief Live Aid concert in 1985. He was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1987 and went on to campaign for the eradication of AIDS from Africa.

During the George W. Bush administration, Belafonte became a vocal critic of American policies and even called Bush “the greatest terrorist in the world” in 2006. His invective also extended to Democrats, and he criticized Barack Obama over Guantanamo Bay and what Belafonte perceived to be a lack of “empathy with the dispossessed, be they white or Black.”

Belafonte was married three times. With his first wife, Marguerite Byrd, he had daughters Adrienne and Shari. He had another two children with his second wife, Julie Robinson, before they divorced in 2004 after 47 years together. Belafonte is survived by his third wife, Pamela Frank, to whom he was married in 2008.

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