KNOXVILLE — The University of Tennessee’s Black Cultural Programming Committee will host a lecture series with Harry Belafonte at 7 p.m. Monday, September 11, in the Knoxville Civic Auditorium. The lecture presentation, “An Evening with Harry Belafonte,” is free and open to the public. Tickets are not needed, but space is limited.

“We hope everyone will take the opportunity to hear from this award-winning actor, musician, activist and humanitarian. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet a legend,” said Denelle Niles Brown, director of minority student affairs at UT.

The son of Caribbean-born immigrants, Belafonte grew up on the streets of Harlem and Jamaica. After serving in World War II, he returned to New York and began a successful acting and singing career. Belafonte also was deeply involved in the Civil Rights Movement and was close friends with the Rev. Martin Luther King.

In the 1980s he helped initiate the “We Are the World” single which raised millions of dollars for aid to Africa. He also hosted former South African President Nelson Mandela on his visit to the United States. Belafonte has been a longtime critic of U.S. foreign policy, calling for an end to the embargo against Cuba and opposing policies of war and global oppression.

Belafonte was the first African American to receive an Emmy Award and has also received a Grammy and, most recently, the 2006 BET Humanitarian of the Year Award.

For more information, contact Julius Gunn or Michelle Jennings at (865) 974-6861 or visit web.utk.edu/~omsa.
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Contacts:

-Julius Gunn, (865) 974-6861
-Michelle Jennings, (865) 974-6861
-Beth Gladden, media relations, (865) 974-9008, beth.gladden@tennessee.edu

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