Then sometime between high school and college, I discovered Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, and Alice Walker, all prolific Black American writers. There are so many books, comics, shows, and films that I enjoyed as a kid, but the main thing they taught me was that someone who looked like me and came from where I was from could never be the main character. What a powerfully profound quote from such a violently relevant book.īutler’s work has radically changed my perspective on life and has left a lasting impression on me as a Black man and a writer.īefore I had the honor of encountering Octavia Butler’s body of work, I already adored science-fiction and fantasy. By the late 1970s, Butler had become sufficiently successful as an author that she was able to pursue writing full-time - THE DREAM! While in college Octavia was encouraged to attend theĬlarion Workshop, which focused on science fiction and led to her first published work, Crossover. ![]() Born in Southern California, Butler was raised by her widowed mother, and at a young age, she discovered her love of reading and writing science fiction. The first Black woman to win the Hugo Awardīutler's fiction helped frame Black women's agency and individuality in a world that often denies them both.The first Black woman to win the Nebula Award.The first science-fiction author to be honored with a MacArthur "Genius Grant".I’m not the only one who feels that way either, Butler went on to receive a raft of awards and accolades for her works, starting with: But now that I’ve read most of her novels, if not all, I have soooo much respect, admiration, and appreciation for her work and everything she stood for. Butler was a dope writer back when I first stumbled upon her 1979 novel Image Courtesy of Thought Catalog/Unsplash And, by his example, demonstrated how we might go about bringing that world into existence. He also did something that is, perhaps, even greater: he fostered the hope that a better world for all could be created. ![]() Over a career spanning more than seventy years, Belafonte brought joy to millions of people. as he fought against apartheid alongside Nelson Mandela and Miriam Makeba, campaigned for Mandela’s release from prison, and advocated for famine relief in Africa.” And in 1987, he received an appointment to UNICEF as a goodwill ambassador. The Southern Poverty Law Center notes that “he helped launch one of Mississippi’s first voter registration drives and provided funding for the Freedom Riders. King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference.” and, as the New York Times stated, Belafonte “put up much of the seed money to help start the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and was one of the principal fund-raisers for that organization and Dr. He was a friend and adviser to the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. Though he never stopped performing, by the early 1960s he’d shifted his energies to the nascent Civil Right movement. Harry Belafonte - Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) (Live) Belafonte’s blockbuster stardom is all the more remarkable for happening in a world plagued by virulent systemic racism. He found equal success in the recording studio, bringing Calypso music to the masses via such hits as “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” and “Jamaica Farewell.” ![]() A 1960 television special, “Tonight with Belafonte,” brought him an Emmy for Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series, making him the first Black person to win that award. Belafonte was the first Black person to win the prestigious award. ![]() “A tree is best measured when it is down,” the poet Carl Sandburg once observed, “and so it is with people.” The recent death of Harry Belafonte at the age of 96 has prompted many assessments of what this pioneering singer-actor-activist accomplished in a long and fruitful life.īelafonte’s career as a ground-breaking entertainer brought him substantial wealth and fame according to Playbill magazine, “By 1959, he was the highest paid Black entertainer in the industry, appearing in raucously successful engagements in Las Vegas, New York, and Los Angeles.” He scored on Broadway, winning a 1954 Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical – John Murray Anderson's Almanac.
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