HARRY BELAFONTE, who died today, aged 96, is hardly the first person who comes to mind when you think of great individuals who have changed the face of history, even though he did. 

Younger generations have probably never heard of him and even older ones are more likely to recall him as a singer of Calypso tunes rather than a political activist. 

How historical narratives can distort and erase! 

Although politics was always central to his life and work up until the day he died, he never trumpeted his own achievements but preferred to work behind the scenes.

Born in 1927, in New York’s Harlem, Harry grew up in dire poverty, brought up by a single mother (his father was away at sea for most of the time). His parents were from Jamaica and he spent childhood years on the island. Growing up in Harlem, he experienced daily bullying and racism on the streets and in the schools. He learned about politics the hard way. 

Paul Robeson was his first great formative influence: “He gave me my spine,” Belafonte said, just as Martin Luther King “nourished my soul.”
 
He dreamt of becoming an actor but had to pay for his acting lessons at the now famous Dramatic Workshop in New York in the late 1940s under Erwin Piscator. His fellow students included Marlon Brando, with whom he became close friends, Tony Curtis, Walter Matthau, Bea Arthur and Sydney Poitier. Poitier, another Caribbean immigrant, and he became like brothers.
 
At that time the USA was very much a segregated nation, not dissimilar to South Africa. Blacks could not enter most hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues and toilets. In the South there were daily beatings, imprisonments, and lynchings. Most black people were not registered to vote, and their rights were ignored. 

As a singer, he was given his first break by a group of jazz musicians in Harlem who liked his voice. He sang to pay for his acting classes. The first time he appeared in front of an audience, he was backed by the Charlie Parker band, which included Miles Davis, among others. That was that start of his career as a club singer. He launched his recording career as a pop singer on the Roost label in 1949, but quickly developed a keen interest in folk music. 

Unlike many other performers, throughout his distinguished performing and recording career, he never gave up his political activism. He would become one of the most influential figures in the Civil Rights movement. Without his influence and support Martin Luther King would probably have remained a little-known small-town preacher. He became a close confidant and supporter of King and the Civil Rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s. 

Throughout his career, Belafonte was an advocate for political and humanitarian causes, such as the anti-apartheid movement, USA for Africa and campaigning against the Vietnam war. 

President Kennedy may not have been elected and would certainly not have pushed through the much-needed civil rights legislation he did without Belafonte’s support. During his life, he gave away millions of his hard-earned dollars to civil rights causes in the USA and generous support in terms of money and time to African independence movements and the battle against apartheid.
 
In his activism on behalf of civil and labour rights, he was able to call on the support of many Hollywood and music scene greats, like Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Mahalia Jackson, Lena Horne, Sammy Davis Jr, Frank Sinatra, Odetta, Nina Simone and many others.  

He also helped launch the careers of several big names in the music world of the mid-20th century, like Miriam Makeba, Nana Mouskouri and even the young Bob Dylan made his first recording accompanying Belafonte (on harmonica). 

He was instrumental in helping to bring African students to the USA, including Barack Obama’s father. 

Unsurprisingly, he was also a victim of McCarthyism and FBI harassment. His phone was tapped and there were several attempts to have him blacklisted. Although he had many friends who were or had been in the Communist Party, he was never a member, so the damage the slurs could do was limited. Even his manager and psychotherapist at the time turned out to be FBI agents feeding back information on him to their masters.

He has won three Grammy Awards (including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), an Emmy and a Tony Award. 

Belafonte was a longtime critic of US foreign policy. 

At various times he made statements: praising the Abraham Lincoln Brigade which fought in Spain; opposing the US embargo on Cuba; praising Soviet peace initiatives; attacking the US invasion of Grenada; opposing the death sentences on the Rosenbergs and praising Fidel Castro. 

Belafonte is additionally known for his visit to Cuba which helped ensure hip-hop’s place in Cuban society. In a 2003 interview, Belafonte reflected upon this meeting’s influence:

“The boycott, the intimidation of the Cuban people, have been going on for over 40 years. One would imagine that after so long a stale and failed policy would be understood, that it is about time to have another kind of relationship with our neighbour to the south, that it would be time for us to sit down and have honest, open exchange with the Cuban people and their representatives and try to reach a level of civility in which we conduct our affairs with each other... there’s much about the Cuban government, the Cuban people and what they have achieved that many of us here are still trying to achieve.”

He captured much attention in 2002 for his political stance when he attacked President Bush over the Iraq war.  During an interview on October 10, 2002, Belafonte referred to a quote from Malcolm X, saying: 

“There is an old saying, in the days of slavery. There were those slaves who lived on the plantation, and there were those slaves who live in the house. You got the privilege of living in the house if you served the master, do exactly the way the master intended to have you serve him. That gave you privilege. Colin Powell is allowed to come into the house of the master, as long as he would serve the master, according to the master’s purpose. And when Colin Powell dares to suggest something other than what the master wants to hear, he will be turned back out to pasture. And you don’t hear much from those who live in the pasture.”

Belafonte used that quote to characterise former US Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice. Powell and Rice both responded, with Powell calling the remarks “unfortunate” and Rice saying: “I don’t need Harry Belafonte to tell me what it means to be black.”
 
In 2006, he led a delegation of activists to meet Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. 

Chavez had initiated a programme to provide cheaper heating oil for poor people in parts of the United States. Belafonte supported this initiative. He was quoted as saying, during the meeting with Chavez: “No matter what the greatest tyrant in the world, the greatest terrorist in the world, George W Bush says, we’re here to tell you: Not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of the American people support your revolution.”

The comment ignited a great deal of controversy. Hillary Clinton refused to acknowledge Belafonte’s presence at an awards ceremony that featured both of them.  

During a Martin Luther King Day speech at Duke University in 2006, Belafonte compared the US government to the hijackers of the September 11 attacks, saying: “What is the difference between that terrorist and other terrorists?” In response to criticism of his remarks Belafonte asked: “What do you call Bush when the war he put us in to date has killed almost as many Americans as died on 9/11 and the number of Americans wounded in war is almost triple? ... By most definitions Bush can be considered a terrorist.”
  
In 2016, Belafonte endorsed Bernie Sanders for the Democratic Primary, saying: “I think he represents opportunity; I think he represents a moral imperative, I think he represents a certain kind of truth that’s not often evidenced in the course of politics.”

Belafonte’s autobiography My Song: A Memoir is highly recommended reading.