"The imagery flowed, the language flowed. "I was not surprised by the content, because we had worked with him on it and we were in tune with the message, but what we were not prepared for was the delivery, the oratory," Belafonte wrote in a 2013 op-ed for T he Guardian. On the 50th anniversary of that day, Belafonte recalled how "truly inspiring" the march was and revealed his thoughts on his friend's renowned speech, which he said he helped write. King famously delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech as the event's keynote speaker. In 1963, he participated in the March on Washington, which was led by King and became the most prominent protest action for civil rights in American history. He said that his political views were already in place when he met King and that he was "utterly committed to the civil rights struggle." But King affirmed his outlook. Hulton Archive/Gettyīelafonte befriended the civil rights leader early in his career, acting as a major donor to King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference and repeatedly providing the funds to bail out King and other activists from jail. Belafonte, who died Tuesday at 96, was close friends with the civil rights leader. at New York's Kennedy Airport on August 14, 1964. Harry Belafonte is shown with the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Besides his success as a singer and actor, his legacy is largely defined by his work toward achieving racial justice and his lifelong friendship with King. I won't forget.Rest well, sir."Įarlier that morning, Belafonte's longtime spokesman announced that Belafonte, 96, had died at his Manhattan home from congestive heart failure.īelafonte is remembered as a barriers-breaking figure who rose to stardom at a time when racial discrimination and segregation were still widespread in the U.S. "Here he is mourning with my mother at the funeral service for my father at Morehouse College. In fact, he paid for the babysitter for me and my siblings," Bernice tweeted on Tuesday alongside a picture of Belafonte at her father's 1968 funeral. "When I was a child, #HarryBelafonte showed up for my family in very compassionate ways. Bernice King, the youngest daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., eulogized singer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte on social media this week, reflecting on the close relationship that he had with her family and particularly her father.
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