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The late Harry Belafonte won the Marian Anderson Award in 1998. Here’s what he said at his acceptance speech.

Read Harry Belafonte's remarks from the 1998 Marian Anderson Award.

Gregory Peck waves to the crowd after recieving the Marian Anderson Award as he is escorted off stage by Harry Belafonte in 1999. Belafonte was the 1998 recipient. The award is given to an artist who use their talents for personal artistic expression coupled with a deep commitment to the betterment of society.
Gregory Peck waves to the crowd after recieving the Marian Anderson Award as he is escorted off stage by Harry Belafonte in 1999. Belafonte was the 1998 recipient. The award is given to an artist who use their talents for personal artistic expression coupled with a deep commitment to the betterment of society.Read moreINQ TARVER

Singer, actor, and activist Harry Belafonte died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at age 96.

Belafonte was known for his work as a singer and actor — such as the hit song “Banana Boat Song (Day-O),” as well as films including The World, Flesh and the Devil, Kansas City, Carmen Jones and Odds Against Tomorrow — as well as his activism, going on to play a key role in the civil rights movement.

In 1963, Belafonte helped organize the March on Washington, and worked to recruit fellow stars such as Sidney Poitier and Paul Newman to attend. The following year, Belafonte and Poitier gave tens of thousands of dollars to Mississippi activists following the murder of three “Freedom Summer” volunteers.

Belafonte was also a close friend of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.; the pair first met in 1956. Belafonte would go on to produce a benefit concert for the Montgomery, Al. bus boycott that thrust King into the national dialogue. King, Belafonte said, helped him realize that “the movement was more important than anything else.”

In 1998, Belafonte was awarded Philadelphia’s prestigious Marian Anderson Award. Named after iconic singer Marian Anderson, a Philadelphia native who was the first Black singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera, the award is given to prominent entertainers who have had a positive impact on society.

In his acceptance speech for the award in June 1998, Belafonte said that “the generosity of a few voices from the world of Black culture” were “most critical to my escape” from the consequences of growing up in poverty. Among those who inspired him, he said, were Anderson, Duke Ellington, Katherine Dunham, Paul Robeson, Joe Louis, Jessie Owens, Langston Hughes, and others.

“Marian Anderson, Paul Robeson and others made me understand that artists have the power to journey into their neighbors’ world, be touched by the differences they find, and be inspired by the commonality we all share because of these differences,” Belafonte said. “They made me unafraid of diversity.”

“I can rejoice in singing the songs of the Jew, the Irish, the Italian, the Russian, the Spaniard, the African,” Belafonte added. “Our tongues may be different, but our songs are of each other. Our purpose is to speak truth and be a mirror for the world to see itself.”

Belafonte’s full acceptance speech is below:

“Having been born into poverty, I expected to live a life absent of opportunity. When you are poor and Black and American, it is difficult to know who you are. In our search for identity, if we have no person of wisdom and courage to guide us, it is more than likely that our search will yield a meager harvest...
My fortunate deliverance from such consequences ... mostly ... can be ascribed to the generosity of a few voices from the world of Black culture. They were most critical to my escape ... How fortunate for me that as a young child, struggling with the consequences of poverty, I could be touched by the courage and art of such remarkably gifted people as Duke Ellington, Katherine Dunham, Paul Robeson, Joe Louis, Jessie Owens, Langston Hughes and many more. They all came out of my circumstances and gave me cause to dream, to hope, to know there were tangible possibilities.
When I first heard [Marian] Anderson, she seemed like some distant, spiritual essence from a book of fiction. Beyond the overwhelming beauty of her voice was her magical ability to make one listen to that which was alien. Songs of our struggle and our history were captured in the gift of her voice ... And she did not perform them just for us. The world wanted her gift, and she gave it to them. But in return, they had to accept who she was.
Our time was filled with great and noble warriors who waged a mighty resistance to oppression and racial tyranny. Many of them paid a great price. One such in my youth was my mentor Paul Robeson, who said: ‘The purpose of art is not just to show life as it is, but to show life as it should be. The artist must be the constant teller of truth.’ Marian Anderson was just such an artist...
Marian Anderson, Paul Robeson and others made me understand that artists have the power to journey into their neighbors’ world, be touched by the differences they find, and be inspired by the commonality we all share because of these differences. They made me unafraid of diversity. I can rejoice in singing the songs of the Jew, the Irish, the Italian, the Russian, the Spaniard, the African. Our tongues may be different, but our songs are of each other. Our purpose is to speak truth and be a mirror for the world to see itself...
With the time left to me in this interesting, vibrant, feisty world; with the time left to me in this struggling, conflicted, wondrous America; in the time left to sing yet another song, I will continue to go where I must and do as I have done - and, I hope, sustain your pleasure in having bestowed on me this treasured gift.

This article contains information from the Associated Press.