Harry Belafonte Named the 7 Stars Who Put Their Careers on the Line to Stand Against RACISM

Harry Belafonte named 7 stars who fought racism with him in Old Hollywood, when standing up could cost them everything. In 1963 most of Hollywood said no. These seven said yes. Harry Belafonte was the King of Calypso, a Golden Age star and Martin Luther King's closest ally in show business. When the civil rights movement needed famous faces, at the March on Washington in 1963, in Selma in 1965 and in Mississippi during Freedom Summer, he picked up the phone and called the biggest stars in Hollywood. Most of them stayed home. Seven of them got on the plane. In this video you'll discover: • The circus acrobat turned Oscar winner who flew in from Paris for the March on Washington • The Las Vegas headliner who wasn't allowed to sleep in the hotel that had his name on the sign • The beloved crooner who sang to the Selma marchers in a muddy Alabama field • The blue-eyed superstar who went to Gadsden, Alabama, six days before the March, and later made Nixon's enemies list • The first Black Best Actor winner, who rode through Klan country in Mississippi with Belafonte • The man who led Hollywood's stars at the March, and then turned: Charlton Heston and "from my cold, dead hands" • Marlon Brando, the cattle prod he held up at the March on Washington, and the 1973 Oscar he refused Featuring: Burt Lancaster, Sammy Davis Jr., Tony Bennett, Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier, Charlton Heston and Marlon Brando. Which of these seven surprised you the most? Tell me in the comments, and tell me which Old Hollywood star you want me to cover next. 📺 Watch next: Harry Belafonte Exposed the 7 Worst Racist Stars He Knew in Old Hollywood Golden Age History https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keuX_MjW-SU 🔔 Subscribe to Hollywood Timecapsule for the untold stories of Old Hollywood's Golden Age: https://www.youtube.com/@HTCArchives?sub_confirmation=1 Sources include: Harry Belafonte, My Song (2011); Sidney Poitier, The Measure of a Man (2000); Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters (1988); contemporary press coverage of the 1963 March on Washington and the 1973 Academy Awards. This video is for educational and historical commentary purposes. Archival images are used under fair use. #HarryBelafonte #OldHollywood #GoldenAgeHollywood