Remembering Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte, the prominent civil rights advocate and entertainer, died from congestive heart failure at his home in New York City on April 25, 2023, at the age of 96.
His motivating and thoughtful presence will not be forgotten. In this clip from 1967, Belafonte talks about racism, patriotism and war. He was one of Martin Luther King Jr.’s confidants, and a big supporter of the anti-apartheid movement.
For one week in February 1968, at the height of the riots in US cities, and just months before Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy were assassinated, Harry Belafonte hosted The Tonight Show to “introduce white America to his world of art and activism.”
Harry Belafonte hosts the Tonight Show, interviews Robert F. Kennedy
The show originally aired on April 24, 1968.
The first Black host of a late-night show, he welcomed gifted friends who were often Black: Lena Horne, Aretha Franklin, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Dionne Warwick. The Smothers Brothers performed material that had been censored on other networks. Paul Newman played trombone. Poet Marianne Moore spoke. Zero Mostel stood on a couch to greet Wilt Chamberlain.
What is impressive are his gentle, probing interviews with a relaxed Martin Luther King, Jr., and his thoughtful conversation with a weary Kennedy, despairing about America’s disparities. Belafonte spoke honestly of poverty, rats, lousy housing, hungry children, our “untruths about ourselves (and) treating everyone equally. “The fact is we’re not caring for them. We’re not.”
He ended the show with grace and clarity, recognizing those “offended by the politics aired,” explaining that he sought to “give you all a taste of what’s being said in rooms many of you may not know or enter. Thank you for listening.”
This clip from The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts the Tonight Show explores the week when Harry Belafonte hosted The Tonight Show and invited guests like Aretha Franklin, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, and Dionne Warwick to wake up America.
The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts the Tonight Show is a documentary film released in 2020 that chronicles the seminal event and almost-forgotten moment in American history when Harry Belafonte hosted the iconic “Tonight Show” in place of Johnny Carson for an entire week. Watch the documentary on Peacock at https://pck.tv/3amQ5yI.
Mr. Belafonte, we thank you for your tireless work to point out the injustices in the world, to lift people up, and to take on other’s suffering. Rest easy knowing that you did everything you could to change the world for the better.
