Harry Belafonte Turns 95 With a Call for Social Justice

“He put his cash the place his mouth is, and he put his profession on the road,” stated Laurence Fishburne at a gala Tuesday night time celebrating the ninety fifth birthday of Harry Belafonte, the groundbreaking entertainer whose combat for racial justice could show an much more lasting legacy. “And he seemed fairly whereas he was doing it.”

Mr. Fishburne was certainly one of greater than 1,000 elegantly attired attendees at The City Corridor theater in Manhattan for the primary Harry Belafonte Social Justice Awards given by Sankofa.org, a social justice group based 10 years in the past by Mr. Belafonte, his daughter Gina Belafonte and the music govt Raoul Roach.

And he had some extent. Mr. Belafonte, whose seems and allure stood out even by Hollywood requirements, made his mark as a singer (his “Calypso” album from 1956 grew to become the primary by a solo performer to promote one million copies) after which as an actor who shattered racial stereotypes in Nineteen Fifties movies like “Carmen Jones” and “Island within the Solar.”

However as presenters together with Spike Lee, Whoopi Goldberg and Michael Moore made clear, Mr. Belafonte has been an outspoken activist for racial justice because the Eisenhower years, when such a stand might show career-threatening.

Danny Glover, one other presenter, recalled being struck by Mr. Belafonte’s political urgency in an look on “The Dick Cavett Present” within the Seventies. “I had heard his songs, in fact, all of us sang his songs, however to see him expound on his relationship with the world as an artist, it was profound for me,” stated Mr. Glover, who went on to change into an actor and activist himself.

For Mr. Belafonte, grace and wit proved helpful weapons within the combat for justice, those that knew him stated. “We traveled everywhere in the nation and the world collectively, and I all the time cherished his humorousness,” stated Cornel West, the professor and public mental who obtained a social justice award in training. “It’s arduous to have a real revolutionary with a way of the comedian.”

Visitors walked the purple carpet round 6:30 p.m. and took their seats for a virtually three hour ceremony that interspersed the awards with performances and tributes. Alicia Keys recited a poem referred to as “The Reward to Sing,” by James Weldon Johnson. The choreographer Invoice T. Jones carried out an interpretive dance to a classic black-and-white clip of Mr. Belafonte crooning his haunting rendition of “Attempt to Keep in mind.”

Mr. Belafonte himself was unable to attend due to considerations about touring throughout the pandemic, organizers stated.

However this was not merely an evening for wanting again. “You may’t combat for democracy within the Ukraine and never combat for it right here,” stated the Rev. Al Sharpton, wanting dapper in a steel-blue three-piece swimsuit.

Because the night drew to a detailed, Mr. Moore sauntered onstage in a saggy black sweatshirt and cap. He identified that in 1927, the 12 months Mr. Belafonte was born, the highest-grossing movie was “The Jazz Singer,” that includes a scene the place Al Jolson, a white actor, performs in blackface, and, he stated, “there was no Voting Rights Act for Black People — identical to now.”