Harry Belafonte Biography

Fast Facts

• Received the Bishop John T․ Walker Distinguished Humanitarian Service Award in 2001
• Supports a number of charities and organizations including American Indian Empowerment Fund, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and WhyHunger
• Actively supported the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King Jr․ during the 1950s, financing the Freedom Rides and helping organize the 1963 March on Washington
• Serves as a Goodwill Ambassador for organization UNICEF
• Pursued a career as an actor and singer after watching a performance by the American Negro Theater
• Best known for performing 1956's "The Banana Boat Song․"
• Known for introducing calypso and Caribbean styles of music in popular culture during the 1950s
• Became the first African-American man to receive an Emmy Award, which he earned for his performance in the 1959 TV special "Tonight with Belafonte․"