February 9, 1995: Vol26n16: Belafonte is keynote speaker for King Commemoration

By ARTHUR PAGE
News Bureau Director
Harry Belafonte, world-renowned entertainer, humanitarian and
civil-rights activist, will deliver the keynote address at the 19th
annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration at UB.
	A close friend, confidant and advisor to King, Belafonte will
speak at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23, in the Mainstage theater in the
Center for the Arts on the North Campus.
	Admission will be free. Tickets will be required, however, and
may be obtained by calling the UB Office of Conferences and Special
Events at 645-3414.
	Belafonte's address will be presented by the James Fenton
Lecture Foundation, with support from the Office of the President,
Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Urban Affairs,
Office of Conferences and Special Events, and Minority Faculty and
Staff Association, all at UB. Also co-sponsoring the event are WKBW-TV
News Channel 7 and The Challenger.
	Harry Belafonte has been called "the consummate entertainer"
-- recording artist; concert singer; an actor on Broadway, in movies
and on television, and an Emmy-winning television performer and
producer.
	He also has earned global respect for his activity in the
human-rights struggle.
	Belafonte has dedicated his life to uniting people for causes
often considered controversial. His dedication dates back to the
civil-rights struggle in the United States, when he united the
cultural community behind the marches in Selma and Montgomery,
Alabama, as well as the Freedom March in Washington, D.C., in 1963.
	In 1966, Belafonte performed in Paris and Stockholm for the
first European benefit concerts on behalf of King. He later was named
to the board of directors of the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference. Belafonte, who was named one of three executors of King's
estate, has served as chair of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
Fund.
	He has been honored many times by such diverse groups as the
American Jewish Congress, the NAACP, the Committee for United Negro
Relief, the City of Hope, Fight for Sight, the Albert Einstein Award
from Yeshiva, the Boy Scouts of America and the Peace Corps. He
received the Dag Hammarskjold Peace Medal in 1981 and the Martin
Luther King Jr. Peace Prize in 1989.
	Belafonte has opened new cultural exchanges with emerging
African nations and, through the Belafonte Foundation, has aided many
African students seeking an education in the United States. It was
Harry Belafonte who set the wheels in motion that led to the creation
of USA for Africa and the "We Are the World" concert to benefit
African famine relief in January 1985. He also was deeply involved in
"Hands Across America," a benefit to relieve hunger in America that
was an outgrowth of "We Are the World."
	In 1990, in his role as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Belafonte
acted as host for the "World Summit on the Child" held at the United
Nations.
	His current projects include work on a television mini-series
based on the lives of Nelson and Winnie Mandela, and a production and
development agreement with New Line Cinema.
	Belafonte has received a number of honorary degrees, including
an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Park College in Missouri
and a doctorate in the arts from The New School for Social Research,
where he once was a student. He also has received an honorary doctor
of music degree from Morehouse College in Atlanta, an honorary doctor
of fine arts degree from the State University of New York College at
Purchase, and honorary degrees from the City University of New York,
Spellman College, Tufts University and Brandeis University.