Harry Belafonte | Credit: Sankofa.org
Harry Belafonte | Credit: Sankofa.org

Over the last week, we’ve been celebrating the 90th birthdays of Sidney Poitier (February 20) and Harry Belafonte (March 1), recalling past work (especially lesser known films) and other clickables, both on this blog and on our social media spaces (see pieces on “Porgy & Bess,” “The Slender Thread,” “A Patch of Blue,” “Odds Against Tomorrow,” some Did You Know trivia, a short film about Poitier’s brush with the Hollywood Blacklist).

Today… on Harry Belafonte’s 90th birthday, he speaks and we listen.

A motivational 2012 interview with the actor/producer/musician/activist/more as a documentary on his life, “Sing Your Song,” opened in theaters; the then 85-year-old spoke to Sarfraz Manzoor of The Guardian about his life and work in film, music and fighting for social equality – as chronicled in a his memoir (which was also released that year). He also discusses his friendship with Martin Luther King, his relationship with President John F. Kennedy, and the humiliation that led him to become more heavily involved in the fight against racial injustice.

Certainly worth watching and listening on this hump-day Wednesday: