Daylight Come

Harry Belafonte and the World He Made

De: Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, Henry Louis Gates Jr.

A vibrant, revealing portrait of the "King of Calypso," whose extraordinary performing career and activism helped remake America through the civil rights era and beyond

Even now, two years after his death, Harry Belafonte is everywhere. You can’t go to a wedding, or to Yankee stadium, without hearing “Day-O,” “Jump in the Line,” or “Turn the World Around.” The Harlem-born son of Caribbean immigrants, Belafonte turned the folk music of the islands into American pop—and with it, invented the North American fantasy of Caribbean island life that endures to this day, as an ideal and as a multi-billion dollar tourist industry. Belafonte released the first million-selling LP in history. He was the first Black movie star in America, the first Black person to produce a primetime special on network TV, and the first to win an Emmy. For a time, he was the highest-paid Black performer in history. A figure of overwhelming personal charisma and cultural influence, Belafonte was beloved by Black and white fans alike, even under segregation. But even as his artistic career helped create the pop culture of the twentieth century, his political activism reshaped the course of American history.

In this sparkling new biography, the great geographer and critic Joshua Jelly-Schapiro brings Belafonte’s personality and music energetically to life, following him from rags to riches, from Harlem to Jamaica to the March on Washington. With a scholar’s insight and a storyteller’s mastery, Jelly-Schapiro brings us into Belafonte’s lifelong brotherhood with Sidney Poiter, his friendship with Fidel Castro, his collaboration with Nelson Mandela, and the sometimes-shocking therapeutic relationships his difficult upbringing necessitated. At the heart of the story is Belafonte’s intimate personal and professional relationship with Martin Luther King, Jr., whose cause Belafonte would champion for the rest of his life, from personally delivering a duffel of cash to an SNCC safehouse to inventing the celebrity fundraising special. That commitment to the greater good would sustain him and benefit untold numbers—and would come at a cost.

The indelible story of an iconic American figure—and a provocative study of authenticity, fame, and conviction—Daylight Come is, like Harry Belafonte himself, brimming with learning and entertainment.