African-American singer, actor and activist Harry Belafonte has died at the age of 96

Singer, actor and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte, who broke down racial barriers in the United States in the 1950s, died Tuesday at the age of 96 at his home in New York, his representative Ken Sunshine said.

Born in New York’s Harlem district in 1927. Of Jamaican origin, Belafonte became famous in 1956 with a successful album of Caribbean music. Calypsowho popularized songs like Day-O and a jamaican farewell.

He also had some forays into the world of cinematography, with films like Carmen Jonesat a time when racial segregation was still deeply rooted in the United States, and African-Americans had minority roles on the big screen.

Due to his great popularity and ability to break racial barriers in the art world, Belafonte’s career has been compared to that of artists such as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald or his contemporary Sidney Poitier.

In 1968, British singer Petula Clark, then at the height of her popularity, invited Belafonte to a special program on NBC television and the two sang a duet during which Clark gently touched her colleague’s hand.

The show’s sponsor, Plymouth Motors, tried to censor the moment because it might offend audiences in the southern US, but Clark, who had the rights to the program, refused.

It is believed to be the first time two people of different skin colors have made discreet physical contact in front of the cameras.

Belafonte, who was personally involved in and funded the civil rights movement, was a personal friend of the Reverend Martin Luther King and participated in the historic March on Washington in 1963, the one with the famous speech I have a dream (I have a dream).

He also received support for the cause from famous Hollywood stars such as Paul Newman and Marlon Brando, and United States President John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) appointed him cultural adviser to the newly created Peace Corps.

He has always been involved in politics in one way or another and came to describe US President George W. Bush (2001-2009) as “the greatest of terrorists” for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.