Famous People Who Overcame Dyslexia
Harry Belafonte
 Harry
Belafonte (born Harold George Belafonte on March 1, 1927 in
Harlem, New York, United States, is a Jamaican-American calypso
musician and actor who used his fame as an entertainer in
the cause of human rights.
He is perhaps best known for singing
the "Banana Boat Song" with its signature lyric
"Day-O". His breakthrough album Calypso (1956) was
the first album to sell over 1 million copies. He was the
first African-American to win an Emmy, with his first solo
TV special “tonight with Belafonte”.
He appeared on The Smothers Brothers Comedy
Hour and performed a controversial "Mardi Gras"
number with footage intercut from the 1968 Democratic National
Convention riots. Belafonte has gained notoriety for his left
wing political views. He appeared on a Democracy Now! show
where he quoted the civil era icon Malcolm X:
"There was two kinds of slaves.
There was the house Negro and the field Negro. The house
Negroes, they lived in the house with master, they dressed
pretty good, they ate good 'cause they ate his food and
what he left. They lived in the attic or the basement, but
still they lived near the master; and they loved their master
more than the master loved himself. They would give their
life to save the master's house quicker than the master
would. The house Negro, if the master said, 'We got a good
house here,' the house Negro would say, 'Yeah, we got a
good house here.' Whenever the master said 'we,' he said
'we.' That's how you can tell a house Negro. If the master's
house caught on fire, the house Negro would fight harder
to put the blaze out than the master would. If the master
got sick, the house Negro would say, 'What's the matter,
boss, we sick?' We sick! He identified himself with his
master more than his master identified with himself. And
if you came to the house Negro and said, 'Let's run away,
let's escape, let's separate,' the house Negro would look
at you and say, 'Man, you crazy. What you mean, separate?
Where is there a better house than this? Where can I wear
better clothes than this? Where can I eat better food than
this?' That was that house Negro. In those days he was called
a 'house nigger.' And that's what we call him today, because
we've still got some house niggers running around here."
Belafonte used that quote to characterise
both former and current United States Secretary of State Colin
Powell and Condoleezza Rice as "house slaves" for
their behaviour and refusal to stand up against the decision
of President George W. Bush to go to war with Iraq according
to his War on terrorism plan.
He is sometimes also blamed for maintaining
an image of a man who rose to fame without forgetting his
roots and in the process "spoofing" or exaggarating
his connection wih the soil as a part of showmanship.
From 1935 to 1939 he lived with his mother
in her homeland Jamaica. When he returned to New York he attended
George Washington High school after which he joined the navy
and served during the second world war. At the end of the
1940s he took classes in acting and subsequently received
a Tony Award for his participation in John Murray Anderson's
Almanac.
In 1968, Belafonte appeared on a Petula Clark
primetime special on NBC. In the middle of a song, Clark smiled
and briefly touched Belafonte's arm, which made the show's
sponsor, Plymouth Motors, nervous. They wanted to cut out
the segment but Clark, who had ownership of the special, told
NBC that the song aired intact or she wouldn't allow her special
to be aired at all. Plymouth's demands made the national newspapers
and when the special aired, it grabbed high viewing figures.
Clark's gesture marked the first time in which two people
of different races made friendly bodily contact on US television.
He has won a Grammy Award in 1985 for lifetime
achievement and has been made a UNICEF goodwill ambassador.
Additional Links:
Harry
Belafonte on Racism - "We Have Got To Bring Corporate
America To Its Knees"
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