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Harry Belafonte leveraged stardom for social change, his powerful voice always singing a song for justice

  • Written by Aram Goudsouzian, Bizot Family Professor of History, University of Memphis
Harry Belafonte leveraged stardom for social change, his powerful voice always singing a song for justiceHarry Belafonte died at the age of 96.AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

In May 1963, as civil rights demonstrations rocked the city of Birmingham, Alabama, Harry Belafonte was at a cocktail party in Manhattan, scolding the then-attorney general of the United States.

“You may think you’re doing enough,” he recalled telling Robert F. Kennedy,...

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