Belafonte ' s first album was released in 1954 . It is a collection of traditional folk songs . His second album , Belafonte , was the first No . 1 on the new US Billboard album chart in March 1956 , but his success was surpassed by his third album the following year , Calypso , featuring songs from his Jamaican heritage . This record album would become the first album by an artist to sell over one million copies in the United States . A singular fact in the history of music . This just before Elvis Presley ' s breakthrough Harry Belafonte would have equal success as a concert attraction : handsome and charismatic , he captivated audiences with dramatic renditions of a repertoire that encompassed folk traditions from around the world - joyful calypsos like " Matilda ", songs from work like " Lead Man Holler ," to tender ballads like " Scarlet Ribbons ." In Los Angeles and at the Palace in New York . Success as a singer led to roles in movies , and Mr . Belafonte quickly became the first black actor to achieve major success in Hollywood as a leading male actor . His movie stardom was short-lived , however , and it was his friendly rival Sidney Poitier who became Hollywood ' s first true black idol . However , making films was never Mr . Belafonte ' s forte , his main focus from the late 1950s onwards was civil rights . While Pastor King was still an illustrious stranger , Belafonte met him by agreeing to attend one of his sermons in Harlem . Belafonte will be touched by this sermon and will commit substantial funds to realize King ' s aspirations . A great friendship will then be born with the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr . He will not only become a lifelong friend , but also an ardent supporter of Dr . King and the quest for racial equality that he embodied . Belafonte will provide much of the funds to help start the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and will be one of the main fundraisers for this organization and Dr . King ' s Southern Christian Leadership Conference . Later , he will pay the necessary funds to release Dr . King and other civil rights activists from prison . Belafonte would participate in the March on Washington in 1963 . His spacious apartment on West End Avenue in Manhattan would become Dr . King ' s second home . A selfless friend , he quietly applied for an insurance policy on Dr . King ' s life , with the King hing doing activismfamily as the beneficiary , and donated his own money to ensure that King ' s family would be taken care of after the assassination . of Dr . King in 1968 . ( Nevertheless , in 2013 he sued Dr . King ' s three surviving children in a dispute over documents that Mr . Belafonte said did not belong to King ' s estate , but to his private collection . The lawsuit was settled . the following year , Mr . Belafonte retaining possession .) In an interview with the Washington Post a few months after Dr . King ' s death , Harry Belafonte tried to be clearer about his role in the fight for civil rights . He claimed , " I wish I could stop answering questions as if I were the spokesperson for my people ," adding , " I hate walking around and being called at 3 a . m . to get cats out of jail ." However , he sincerely admitted to accepting his role , this obligation conferred on him by his status as a famous black man in a racist country . In the same interview , he noted with regret that although he made music with " roots from black culture , black America , Africa and the West Indies ", most of his fans were white . As frustrating as it may have been , he was much more upset by the racism he faced even at the height of his fame . His role in the 1957 film " Island in the Sun ", which contained the suggestion of a romance between his character and a white woman played by Joan Fontaine , sparked outrage in the South ; a bill was even introduced in the South Carolina Legislature that would have fined any theater showing the film . In Atlanta for a benefit concert for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1962 , Mr . Belafonte was twice refused service at the same restaurant . Television appearances with white female singers – Petula Clark in 1968 , Julie Andrews in 1969 – angered many viewers and , in Mrs Clark ' s case , threatened to cost her a sponsor . Even in the black community Belafonte has sometimes drawn criticism from blacks , notably by suggesting at the start of his career that he owed his success to the lightness of his skin ( born of mixed-race parents , his paternal grandfather and his grandmother -maternal mother were white ).
32 Flashmag ! issue 140 April 2023