"Sing Your Song": Remembering Harry Belafonte, Who Used His Stardom to Help MLK & Civil Rights Movement

We dedicate part of our Juneteenth special to remembering the life and legacy of the legendary actor, singer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte, who died in April at the age of 96. Belafonte appeared on Democracy Now! numerous times, and we feature two interviews. We begin with our 2011 interview at the Sundance Film Festival, where a documentary about his life, titled Sing Your Song, premiered, and discuss his political awakening and activism in detail. “Going into the South of the United States, listening to the voices of rural Black America, listening to the voices of those who sang out against the Ku Klux Klan and out against segregation, and women, who were the most oppressed of all, rising to the occasion to protest against their conditions, became the arena where my first songs were to emerge,” Belafonte recalled.