Harry Belafonte Memoir and HBO Documentary Coming

Harry Belafonte is releasing a memoir, ‘My Song,’ that reflects on his life, career, and involvement in activism.

The 84-year-old actor and musician is not only remembered for his various 1950s chart-toppers (he was the first African-American to win an Emmy), but also his role in pursuing racial justice. His success in music allowed Belafonte to give financial support to Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

Belafonte’s memoir will be released alongside a new biographical documentary from HBO. ‘Sing Your Song’ is, according to the man himself, “meant to pass on information to those who are interested in the history of that period [1955-1968]. [The film’s] purpose is to instruct and to inspire. We hope people find what we have to say interesting.”

Belafonte certainly knows that period better than most. The singer was a confidant to Martin Luther King Jr., and was active in the Freedom Riders, which organized the pivotal March on Washington.

More recently, Belafonte has been a scathing critic of the George W. Bush Administration (“By most definitions, Bush can be considered a terrorist”), and has voiced his support for the Americans behind the Occupy Wall Street movement. At a private screening of ‘Sing Your Song’ on Tuesday, Belafonte told AFP:

“I think that what they are doing is critical and necessary. A lot of people have asked what happened to the current generation. I think [the younger generation] have awakened to that question and talked to the world at large. We’re lucky we got ’em.”