Nowadays when celebrities take up causes, they’re just as likely to be pilloried as praised. However in the 1950s and 1960s, many African-American actors, singers and other artists were at the forefront of the Civil Rights struggle. Admittedly, it was rather different for them as there very existence was political, whether they wanted it to be or not.

Sing Your Song looks at singer and actor Harry Belafonte, a man who this documentary suggests should be as lauded for his activism as his voice. He grew up poor, but it was the Second World War that really highlighted to him the evils of racism. There was segregation in the army, and then when he and other blacks soldiers returned home from fighting for their country, they found they were still treated as second class citizens despite their brave actions. [Read more…]